Anima Ex Machina: Codename Adam
by JX Valentine
Summary: The original version of Anima Ex Machina. Up for archival purposes. See profile for details and the new version.
1. Prologue: The Stars

**Warning!:**

This fanfiction contains violence, gore, psychological trauma, and an abundance of campy sci-fi clichés. If this list makes you uncomfortable, please hit the back button and not the review button. Thanks!

**Author's Note:**

What you're now looking at is the first part of what I call the AEM Revision Project. Slowly but surely, we're transitioning from AEM 2.1 (the last edition of the fic) to AEM 3.0. This means shorter chapters and a ton of new content. However, because I'm currently at chapter two of this project, what this means is things are going to be a bit of a mess from here on out until I reach the current chapter. I apologize in advance if things look a bit messy, and I thank you for bearing with me.

That said, enjoy the show!

* * *

**Prologue:  
I'll bring down the stars for you.**

Twilight broke into night over Hoenn in waves: blue swallowed by red, red swallowed by black. One by one, taillow retreated to the trees for sleep, giving way to zubat fluttering across the black sky in search of prey. Cities gained white haloes of electric light as the human race fought the darkness of night. Far above, ignorant of mankind's attempt to preserve the daylight, the celestial forest of diamonds flickered to life.

One of them moved.

Dubbed C/XX08F1 by the scientific community, the meteor sported the size and approximate mass of a small car. That, along with the fact that it streaked down a path that crossed neatly with Earth, had kept astronomers' eyes on it for several months prior to its destined approach. For the past twenty-four hours, the city closest to the estimated point of impact, Fortree City, remained completely deserted save for the area's wild pokémon. Despite their curiosity and puzzlement over the long train of humans traveling in masses towards neighboring cities and the nagging sense that something was about to happen, few of them fled the area, particularly with the lack of anywhere else to go. For that reason, as day faded away into night, the wild pokémon could do nothing but stare skyward at the glowing streak that loomed closer.

Standing atop a hill, within a circle of rocks countless years old, was an absol whose red eyes were fixed on the falling star. He shifted on his paws as the cold but familiar feeling of dread sank into his bones. The minutes ticked closer to the blackest part of the night, but he could do nothing during that time but watch. There was no one to warn, not because the place was deserted but instead because of something else he could sense -- a feeling of inevitability.

The meteor punched through the atmosphere and immediately burst into a brilliant ball of red and white. Absol's claws scraped against the dirt of the hill as he burst into a run down its face. To his side, the meteor fell rapidly, descending hundreds of feet in seconds towards the soft earth. Several linoone lifted their heads skyward as the absol passed by in his frantic search for safety.

He barely reached the edge of the lake some distance from the base of the hill when the meteorite landed. The ground beneath his paws shook violently as a cloud of red dust spewed towards the heavens and quickly engulfed the area. Waves from the lake swallowed the sandy shores and flooded the Scorched Slab. In the distance, a great crack and subsequent crash signaled the literal fall of Fortree City, shaken free from its lofty perch in the trees of the forest. Unable to ground himself, the absol flew through the air and landed awkwardly on a paw. His mouth opened to release a great cry, but it was drowned by the rumbling and screams of both the trembling land and the dying pokémon further north.

Absol lay on the earth for what felt like hours as his ruby eyes watched the red cloud above him fade to allow the blood-red moon to shine through. Eventually, he tried to move, but his body ached. One of his paws was definitely injured -- the back one that was already beginning to swell. He whimpered as he limped north, back towards the remains of his home.

Not far away, a hole stood in his path, mostly concealed by the cloud of red dust. Gingerly, he limped on his twisted paw for what felt like an immense distance towards the lip of the crater. His throat whined, not because of the pain shooting up his leg but instead because of the familiar, cold feeling that seeped into his bones. The ground beneath his feet grew hotter until it was almost unbearable, but it wasn't the pain that made him hesitate a few yards away from the red-hot lip of the crater. It was fear. He stood, leaning more on his good paws as his eyes stared directly at the red glow he thought was simply from the intense heat emanating from what felt like the earth itself. Something was wrong about it. He could feel it.

Without warning, the glow shifted. Instantly, the absol realized that the glow wasn't coming from the nearly molten rocks around the crater but instead from something _inside_ it. A loud crack -- the sound of rock being smashed with a sledgehammer -- filled the air, followed by a chorus of scratches. Absol tried to scramble backwards, but his weight came down on his bad paw, causing him to collapse on his knees with a high-pitched whine. He closed his eyes tightly until the pain faded, but when he opened them, he found that it was too late to escape.

A massive, red wave had risen from the inside of the crater and lingered on the edge before lunging like a tsunami at the dark-type creature. With a whimper, Absol struggled to stand, but his pursuers were already upon him and washed against his legs. Small mouths tore his flesh in tiny bites until his skin was completely ripped off by a coat of small, spherical creatures. The absol wanted to scream, but all he could do was feel his legs give out, his body collapsing into the red carpet that quickly overwhelmed him. He tried to open his muzzle to release a howl, but as soon as he did, the hunters took the opportunity to crawl down his throat and consume him from the inside out. Eventually, his efforts calmed until, finally, he stopped moving altogether.

When almost all of the absol had been devoured, parts of the entity pulled away from the dead pokémon to lunge towards the grass to the south of the crater. Slowly but surely, the entity slaughtered whatever it came into contact with until it carved a path towards Mt. Pyre. The other entity, having picked the bones of the absol clean, moved northward across the crater and towards the fallen Fortree.

When the inhabitants of Fortree gradually returned throughout the course of the week, their only warning would be the blood-drained corpses of pokémon outside their matchstick city.


	2. One: Fallout Shelter

One  
(Helter-skelter, birds flew off with the fallout shelter.)

Polaris Institute existed before Project Stardust, but then, it mostly centered around technology, rather than the direct study of pokémon. However, when Hoenn succumbed to a mysterious epidemic, the government stepped in to take over major research centers in its other regions, including Polaris. The best of the best in the Pokémon Symposium, the elite community of pokémologists across the country, were hand-picked by each center to lend their skills to the government in a time of desperation.

Ten months have passed since that day when each member of Polaris' team gathered to the circular citadel of a laboratory complex on Seafoam Island. Not long after, an armored car rolled past the gates, and safely inside that car, a metal box drifted through the entrance of the outermost rings of the complex.

The box had since been removed, but the thing that was formerly within it now dwelled in the very heart of Polaris Institute, a square building just beyond the rings of the living quarters. Even here, past two other rings with their own complicated systems of locks and gates, security remained absurdly tight. The corridors weaved within the building like a giant, white maze of linoleum and bitter-scented air. Doors were thick, metal beasts with only a small sign next to them to tell them apart. Even then, security cameras – the most recent feature, actually – hung above each door with one glass eye staring at the tops of heads with a scrutinizing gaze.

Then, even more annoying, was the lock. Keycard, thumbprint, iris. Those were the keys to unlock every door in the inner chambers of Polaris Institute. The eyes and thumbprints of every last employee were recorded and stored in a central computer within the complex to be used as the combination for each lock. It was, after all, of the utmost importance that the thing inside remained completely removed from the outside world – not to keep the people outside from getting inside, as most locks tend to do.

Outside one of the doors, a keycard slipped through the slot on the side of the lock. A pale thumb pressed against the silver thumb pad. Lights blinked as the panel above the thumb pad slipped upward to reveal a camera. Hands pulled back green, curly hair as a heart-shaped face leaned forward. A red beam flashed from the lens and trailed down one dark eye before vanishing. The young man straightened, his hands working their way into the pockets of his lab coat as he waited.

A female, computerized voice finally broke the silence of the hallway. "Identity confirmed. Welcome, Professor McKenzie."

The door slid open, and the young man stepped into a room full of machinery.

Technically, Bill McKenzie wasn't a professor. In fact, while he held a master's in psychology and biology, his attempts to earn a proper doctorate (and, therefore, the title "professor") were scattered across the near decade since he graduated college to the point where his close colleagues and relatives took it as a mundane piece of news whenever he would declare another attempt. It hardly mattered to them, anyway. Most of the respect for him came from actions, not credentials. Even at the young age of twenty-one, he had already written books on the subject of pokémon behavior and produced revolutionary inventions such as the Storage and Retrieval System.

It was those achievements that earned him a place at Polaris Institute, primarily because of his work with pokémon psychology, but the lack of credentials still sparked criticism and controversy within the Pokémon Symposium, an organization filled with scientists who worked for years to gain the credentials he lacked. In turn, that controversy planted doubt in the minds of Project Stardust's primary benefactor: the Japanese government and the officials who sat on the board that oversaw the research efforts. Many of them would have rejected him as being far too inexperienced to handle teamwork on a major project (based, of course, on the opinions of a number of members of the Symposium), but luckily, he had at least one very reliable backer.

"Good morning, Bill!"

Bill lifted his eyes towards the end of the room, past the rows of strange, flickering machines. A dark window spread across the far wall, creating a deep, crimson gap in the otherwise white wall. At it, an old man with near-black eyes stared at him. Professor Oak's wrinkled face drew into a wide grin as he motioned for Bill to come forward. With a small nod, Bill took a few more steps into the laboratory, but before he could go any further, another voice rose from the side.

"McKenzie!" A woman turned fully from the machinery at the side of the room to address him. "Do you realize what time it is?"

At once, Bill cringed, taking a step back towards the door. He wasn't normally shy around his own colleagues, but Professor Yvonne Nettle had that sort of effect on almost everyone. From behind a pair of oval-framed glasses, her hazel eyes flashed angrily at Bill. Her thin face contracted into a deep frown as she drew her hands from her lab coat pockets and crossed her thin arms. In many ways, she and her contracting mouth reminded Bill of fragments of glass: the smaller and thinner they were, the sharper and more dangerous they were. Normally, Bill didn't actually dislike many people. However, he felt his judgment was fair, considering Nettle's apparently perpetual sense of irritation towards him.

"Yes, Professor," he finally replied. "Half past ten in the morning."

The long fingers of her right hand began to drum on her left elbow. "When were you scheduled to arrive here?"

Bill paused, swallowing hard. "Half past… ten?"

"Yes." Nettle narrowed her eyes. "And what time is it now?"

Right then, Bill's blood felt cold in his veins. What time? Wasn't it half past ten? Reaching into the pocket of his own lab coat, Bill pulled out a silver pocket watch. He pursed his lips and found himself trembling slightly as he glanced at its face. The hour hand was almost to eleven, but the minute hand sat comfortably just past the ten. Immediately, the color drained from his cheeks, and he found he couldn't speak. How could he have lost track of that much time?

Nettle, meanwhile, knitted her eyebrows as she set her jaw.

"McKenzie," she said. Her voice lowered in volume, but it was just as winter-cold. "If you wish to be a _fully_ recognized pokémon researcher, you should learn that punctuality and professionalism in the laboratory—"

Oak stepped forward. "Excuse me, Professor Nettle."

Immediately, Nettle stopped and turned. Her hazel eyes went wide at Oak's sudden interruption.

"Don't be too hard on him," Oak said. "After all, a real researcher is never late."

Nettle's expression softened slightly. "With all due respect, Professor Oak, that's exactly my point. A real researcher is always on time, which is why McKenzie should be taught to arrive promptly, when he promised to arrive."

Oak smiled, but unlike Nettle's, his was one of a genuine, friendly nature. "All I mean is that a researcher is never late because he arrives precisely when he means to."

For a beat of hesitation, Nettle puckered her lips and tried to make sense of this statement. "Given that we're working for the government, surely we should take into consideration a strict schedule…"

"Ah." Oak nodded. "Considering the government, yes, I think we should consider the time he arrived compared to when he was scheduled to work here."

Nettle suppressed a smile as she turned her attention back towards Bill. Her subordinate cringed again. He knew the worst part of his day was just about to begin.

"And in that case, we should consider the fact that Bill was actually on time then too," Oak added.

Nettle turned her head sharply back towards Oak. "I'm sorry?"

Even Bill had to send his superiors an odd glance. After all, his watch was in perfect working condition. He made sure of that. It was his _mental_ clock that needed adjusting.

In the meantime, Oak took off his watch and offered it to Nettle with a firm nod and a smile. "Absolutely. Check my watch if you'd like."

Without a word, Nettle reached for the leather strap of the watch. Her mouth opened slightly as she examined the face. On it, the hour hand pointed towards the eleven, but the minute hand nestled itself between the six and the seven. If it was correct, then Bill would have arrived just a couple of minutes before 10:30 in order to endure the conversation until the minute hand ticked to 10:32. Biting her lip, Nettle handed Oak his watch.

"Maybe your watch is a few minutes fast," Oak said with a shrug as he put his watch back on. "You should be careful about that, Professor Nettle. You know how the other teams feel about arriving early enough to interrupt their experiments, and I would hate to have to settle an argument when we're all working well together today."

"Right," Nettle said with a slow nod. "Right then."

She turned her attention back towards Bill. He still looked heavily confused, and that expression alone tried Nettle's patience. Nonetheless, she hid that fact well.

"McKenzie, I want yesterday's reports finished by 1:30 today," she said. "We have Laboratory D for a two o'clock experiment. After that, you're to begin today's reports."

Without another word, she turned and walked briskly to the other side of the room. Bill watched her lean over another colleague of theirs to observe what was appearing on a computer screen.

"You can relax now," Oak said. "She'll go easy on you today."

At his consent, Bill exhaled a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "Professor… Thank you. You lied for me."

Oak pulled his sleeve to examine his watch. With his large fingers, he pulled out the pin in its side and twisted the head to turn the hands back to their original positions.

"Eh, I should've known you would notice," he replied. "Luckily for you, Nettle didn't." He pushed the pin back in. "Bill, I know you don't mean to do it, but please, for your sake, try not to cross Professor Nettle again. I can't keep helping you like this, as much as I want to."

Bill lowered his head. He felt the heat of a blush cross his cheeks. "I understand."

"It's different, working in a team compared to working freelance, especially if the laboratory is government or corporation-owned and operated, and I want you to realize that, Bill," Oak said. "As harsh as she may seem to you, Professor Nettle is right. There're certain rules you need to follow in order to work well with the rest of the team."

Inside, Bill felt himself flinch. It was one thing to be scolded by Professor Nettle, who was perpetually in a sour mood around him, but it was a different thing altogether to be scolded by Professor Samuel Oak. For one, Oak rarely felt the need to reprimand team members, although his typically jovial personality was slowly being replaced by weariness born from constant pressure as Polaris' current director combined with sheer old age. For another, even without the title of Polaris' director, Oak was the foremost figure in the field of pokémology aside from Professor Oswald Rowan. To receive praise from Oak was the ultimate affirmation for a pokémon researcher. Criticism, that one had a long way to go.

"Yes, Professor," Bill said after a long pause.

Sensing the youth's discomfort, Oak's stern face cracked into a warm smile. With one of his large hands, he gave Bill a firm pat on the shoulder, nearly knocking his colleague off his feet in the process. Quickly, Bill righted himself and blinked until he fixed his wide eyes on his superior.

"You'll learn," he said. "Ah, the innocence of youth. It reminds me of a poem, actually. Would you like—"

Bill couldn't decide whether it was a relief or impending doom that Nettle's voice suddenly interrupted.

"Excuse me, Professor," she said. She stood stiffly a few feet away, and her voice was strained, as if she was struggling to keep the sharpness out of her words. "With all due respect, we need McKenzie's reports before two this afternoon."

Oak's smile grew, and without warning, he tilted back on his feet to laugh. His deep, rumbling voice bubbled over every other noise in the laboratory. A few other scientists even looked up to watch him close his eyes for a moment and rub the back of his neck.

"Oh yes!" he replied. "I'm sorry. You're absolutely right." He opened his eyes and glanced towards his younger colleague. "Well, Bill, go on! Work hard for Hoenn's sake! I don't expect anything less than excellence from you."

Although the director probably didn't realize it, Bill had definitely heard that line of encouragement before, uttered to another researcher who felt the cold, hard snap of the voice of another team leader. Nonetheless, Oak's smile and tone were enough to let Bill ease from anxiety caused by humility and into a slightly more comfortable zone. He returned his own smile – albeit a significantly more timid one – and nodded.

"Right. Thank you, Professor."

With that, he walked briskly to his station in a corner of the laboratory. Nettle watched him for a moment before turning to Oak.

"I don't mean to offend you, Professor, but I think you're being a bit easy on him and those like him," she muttered as she crossed her arms. "We have an important project on our hands, and we need every last scientist working on it to take it with the utmost seriousness."

At the end of her comment, Oak turned his head, giving her a long look. She stood with her back ruler-straight next to him. The corners of her mouth wavered slightly for a second before pulling back into its taut frown, but that short second betrayed her uncertainty. Oak smiled, not for her vulnerability but instead because he knew her all too well.

"Ah, Professor Nettle," Oak sighed. "You'll make an excellent director someday."

Nettle straightened a bit more, a feat in itself. "Thank you, sir."

Oak shook his head. "But you really need to know your team members. Is the psychology team making any progress?"

At once, Nettle raised her eyebrows. "Yes, sir."

"And how many official warnings have you given Bill or the other members of your team?"

"Fifty-seven in the past month. McKenzie alone accounts for thirty-four of them."

Oak nodded. "Yet, all of them have been making progress. The reports from your team are thorough and have delivered incredible amounts of information every week. The Committee even ranks the psychology team as one of the top five most productive bodies in Polaris Institute. Is that true?"

Nettle shifted uncomfortably on her feet. She sensed a trap closing in on her. "Yes."

"Ah."

Oak said nothing more, but to Nettle, that one word said far more than she was willing to comprehend.

---

The afternoon crept into the complex, and with it, at two exactly, Professor Nettle herded her team into the observational deck of Laboratory D.

Even the other members of the psychology team couldn't quite understand how Nettle became their leader. Granted, she was nearing fifty and had almost as many awards and degrees as she did years on Earth, but it was widely known throughout the complex that she was a bit overly anal. She had previously been a professor of psychology at Celadon University and before that, a field researcher like Oak himself, known mostly for her endeavors to understand the jynx communication patterns. It was a whispered joke that she communed with the ice women well enough; to the men, she wouldn't hesitate to handle them just as frostily as she frequently did with Bill. To women, she had her harsh moments, but she often restrained herself just enough to give the members of her own gender something resembling mercy.

Needless to say, while she never made a decision that she didn't think was justifiable, her often overly critical nature grated on her team. Bill wasn't the only one who cringed when she threw a glare.

So, when she swept her hazel eyes from the back of a trembling scientist to Bill, he was only slightly surprised that his colleague visibly relaxed.

"McKenzie?" she said sharply as she turned away from a computer.

Bill recoiled as he stood across the room. The observational deck of lab D was just large enough for the five scientists working on the psychology aspect of Project Stardust, yet Bill felt it just wasn't large enough. He turned towards Nettle and tried to look as professional as possible, knowing that she – who, if her reputation was correct, most likely loathed the fact that a successful man still existed in that day and age – would happily comment on his behavior if he wasn't.

"Yes, Professor Nettle?" he asked.

She glanced at him with a serious, nearly suspicious eye. "Are the cameras in working order?"

He nodded. "Yes, Professor Nettle. They're feeding into monitors two through seven."

"The microphone?"

"Yes. Speakers one, four, and six."

"The subjects?"

Bill swallowed, resisting any temptation to wince at the thought of the experiment. "XP-494 is ready in cage one. Rattata C is in cage two."

Nettle nodded. "Very well." She turned away from him. "Professors Heath and Mulberry, stand by the window for release. Professor Fig, keep an eye on the monitors. McKenzie."

Bill looked up as his colleagues took their places. She eyed him carefully with a critical gaze, then nodded.

"Prepare to record the observations."

At that, Bill nodded and turned away, only to sigh. It was usually how it was with Nettle. As soon as she was given a leadership position, she would take it upon herself to assign what she thought would be the most appropriate task to each individual member of the team. Unfortunately, without those precious credentials and given Bill's behavior around the professor, Nettle was apparently convinced that Bill was barely able to function at all. For that reason, she gave him the simplest jobs that required as little of his skills as a pokémon researcher as she could possibly get from him. He, however, rarely complained, not because he was lazy but instead because he knew the alternative was forgoing the experience and returning to Cerulean City, possibly shaming himself in the process.

Nettle narrowed her eyes as she watched him assume a position in front of the computer on the observational deck. She didn't trust him, although she couldn't name as many reasons for why Bill shouldn't be there as Oak had for why he _should_ (reasons that, naturally, convinced the Committee to invite him onboard). Turning, she walked to the window, her eyes staring out and down at the large, concrete room. Nothing was in it except two glass boxes, one of which held a purple rat and the other of which held the creature, pulsing with red light as it scuttled around its cage. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the crystal boxes in the very center of the room.

"Open both doors," she said.

Fig, a small, squat man, turned his bright blue eyes towards a red button by the monitors. His large hand rose, hitting the smooth face of the button with a fleshy palm.

"Doors released," he said as he slowly turned back to the monitors.

Nettle touched her bony chin as she watched through the window. One side on each respective cube swung outward, and the cautious rat was the first to move. He crawled into the open, twitching his long whiskers as he blinked at the strange creature in the other box. The creature clacked its numerous legs to pull itself forward, from glass onto concrete. It had no eyes, yet it seemed to be staring at the rattata. A cold feeling settled in the prey's heart as he crept towards his left with his eyes fixed on the red creature.

Then, suddenly, the thing leapt at him. With a screech, the rattata lunged towards the open space to the side. His paws scrambled desperately as his small heart beat against his chest in his mad dash for safety. Yet, even with his speed, in seconds, he felt the searing pain of eight small, sharp needles planting themselves into the flesh of his shoulder. He screamed once again, and his eyes widened in horror at the bulbous creature resting on his body. His legs still pounded in a frantic, tumbling run as something slid under his skin and sucked on his veins. No matter what he did, including bashing his shoulder into the cement, the creature refused to let go.

With the rapid loss of blood, the rattata's movements became sluggish, eventually slowing to the point where he could only stumble inch by inch towards his box. By the time the rodent reached the glass walls again, he collapsed and closed his eyes.

"Dear God," Nettle whispered. "How long was that?"

"Two minutes, forty-seven seconds," Fig recited.

Bill's fingers clacked on the keyboard to record the number. Then, he glanced up cautiously to note the positions of his colleagues, particularly Nettle. She stood with her back towards him, completely absorbed in the happenings on the field. Pursing his lips, he pulled away from the computer and approached the window, casting his eyes towards the field to steal a glimpse before she noticed.

Immediately, he paled as he watched the creature consume the rattata from the inside out. It crawled up the rodent's side, ripping the flesh as it went to open a large gash and expose the ribs and the slick insides. Bill had seen a vast number of different things since he became a pokémon researcher, but never had he seen a pokémon consume live prey with such clean efficiency. Not a drop of blood was spilled, and the creature cut through flesh with such ease that it seemed to take no time at all to open the rattata's body.

Already feeling lightheaded, Bill covered his mouth with a hand, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the creature. Then, when it began to ooze a strange, green gel into the wound, Bill stumbled backwards, towards the desk with the computer perched on it. Nettle heard the sound of his feet and looked over her shoulder.

"McKenzie?" she asked in a neutral tone.

He exhaled, and seconds later, he was on the floor.

---

When Bill opened his eyes again, he found himself staring at a white ceiling that he knew wasn't part of the observational deck. Moreover, he felt under his body something soft, rather than the hard, tiled floor. His fingers pressed into the mattress and cotton sheets in deep thought as a pounding headache began to radiate from the side of his skull. Drawing in a breath, he closed his eyes again and brought a hand to his face to gingerly rub his forehead.

"Ah! Welcome back to the land of the living, Bill."

Bill opened one eye and looked towards the side of the room, where Oak sat on another bed. By then, Bill realized he was in the infirmary within the Outer Ring, stretched on one of the hospital beds in the minor injuries wing, rather than the private rooms reserved for serious accidents that happened on occasion. Squinting (mostly because fully opening both eyes would send pulses of pain through his head), he propped himself up on his elbows to face his superior.

"Professor Oak," he murmured.

Oak nodded. "You fainted. Hit your head on a desk on the way down. Luckily, it was only a mild trauma, but you'll still want to stay here for awhile before going back to the dorms."

"How long ago…?" Bill's voice trailed off as he gingerly rubbed the side of his head, feeling the bump beneath his curly hair.

"You were brought here a few hours ago," Oak said. "You knocked your head pretty well, and the shock Professor Mulberry tells me you had just before then probably didn't help, either."

"A few hours." With a heavy sigh, Bill lay flat on his back again with his hand rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I'm certain Professor Nettle thinks highly of this."

Oak offered him a sympathetic glance. "I know that Professor Nettle never gives you a chance, but you shouldn't be discouraged. You're doing well."

_Well enough to faint at the sight of a pokémon being dissected,_ Bill thought, but he didn't dare voice that comment. Instead, he offered a weak smile.

Seemingly unaware of this smile, Oak continued. "Professors Heath and Fig are happy to be working with you, and Professor Mulberry insists you do most of her work for her. I hope she's exaggerating. It'll send the wrong message to the other teams, after all."

Oak cracked a smile, a reassurance that none or little of what he said was to be taken seriously. Bill felt that was a reassurance enough and forced himself to sit up. His head swam, and for a moment, he swayed. Oak's smile faded, and his large hands thrust out to catch Bill by the shoulder.

"Easy now!" he said. "Steady. That was a nasty bump, and we can't be having you adding more to it. Lay down. I'll get Nurse Joy."

Bill shook his head. "No. I'm… I'm fine. I just need—"

He was about to finish the sentence with "more time," but before he could, alarms went off. Swiveling around, Oak threw a wide-eyed glance towards the door. Then, he let go of Bill, holding one of his hands up with his palm outward. Bill winced at the blaring sound but managed to keep an eye open to glance at Oak. In Bill's eyes, his superior was beginning to blur into a shapeless figure as a headache slammed through Bill's skull.

"Stay here," Oak said. "With our security, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a malfunction, but I'd better go see anyway."

Bill nodded, but he knew it was a pointless gesture. Already, Oak had turned away, quickly heading towards the door.

Oak cautiously poked his head through the open doorway, casting his eyes up and down the sterile-smelling corridor. At first, he heard nothing but the blaring siren echoing down the empty hallway. However, as he parted from the doorway and began moving past rooms, he began to hear shouts of men heading closer to him at a faster pace than he was moving towards them. In the first moments, he couldn't make out what they were saying, but as they grew closer to each other, he began to realize they were shouting orders to one another – namely, orders to break in.

His feet shuffled backwards, preparing to run towards the closest security booth behind him. Before he could, a pair of hands grabbed him from behind. With a startled gasp, he turned his head, finding himself face-to-face with the dark cap and face of a Team Rocket henchman. Frowning sharply, he shoved the grunt away and began bolting back the way he came. He didn't get particularly far, however, because a few feet away, a group of black-clad Rockets rounded a corner and blocked his path. Stopping short, Oak whirled around to find Rockets approaching behind him. Realizing he was heavily outnumbered, he allowed two pairs of white-gloved hands to grab him by the arms.

A woman pushed through the crowds to face Oak. She was much shorter than the scientist, but her violet eyes conveyed an intimidating ferocity that made the old man feel weak. A grin spread across her pale face, nestled evenly between the locks of blonde hair caressing her rosy cheeks. She crossed her white-clad arms as she eyed Oak.

"Professor Samuel Oak," she said, almost as if she was reciting information from a book. "Pokémon researcher, based in Pallet Town. Currently the director of Polaris Institute and one of the overseers of the top-secret government endeavor known as Project Stardust." She tilted her head. "I thought it would be harder to find you."

He scowled at the woman. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Collectively," she said with a smile, "I think you know. We're here for any and all information on the pokémon temporarily designated as XP-494."

At that, Oak narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about. We're a technological institute."

She put a hand on her hip. "Oh, don't even try to pretend. We have eyes and ears everywhere. We know you have the pokémon that caused the government to quarantine an entire region, and we want to know everything you've discovered about it. Cooperate, and we'll leave quietly once we have everything we want. Resist, and, well…" Her smile grew slightly sweeter. "…You'll see."

Oak hesitated for only a brief second with his response. "You can do whatever you want with me, but you're not getting XP-494 or any of the information we've found on it."

The woman opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, another voice rose from the back of the crowd.

"Agent 009!"

She looked past the old man to see three figures pushing through the sea of black. Two of them were fellow Rocket agents, unnamed underlings in her eyes. The third, however, was someone who piqued her interest. Her eyebrows rose as she stepped past Oak, who stared at the new captive with wide eyes. She stood slightly on her tiptoes as she reached forward to lift the chin of the captive with a finger. He stared back at her with intense, dark eyes.

"Bill McKenzie," she recited in the same fashion as she had for Oak. "Pokémon researcher, based in Cerulean City. Student of pokémon psychology and related technology."

"We found him leaving the hospital wing," one of the underlings said.

"It's a good thing you did," she said. "I think he may be valuable to us."

She looked over her shoulder towards Oak. The old man could only stand there, staring at his colleague with a paling face.

"Bill," he whispered.

The youth looked up, cringing slightly at the situation. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't apologize," the woman said as she smiled at Bill. "You've just made negotiations a little easier." Then, she turned to Oak. "You might not budge if we did anything to you, but what if we did anything to _him_? I mean, look at him." She studied the younger researcher with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "He's just an innocent, ambitious new addition to the team, isn't he? Cutting his life short, if not a few appendages or fingers, when he hasn't even reached his prime…" She paused for emphasis, relishing the fact that he was now staring at her with wide, startled eyes. "…That would just be a tragedy, wouldn't it? And he'd have your stubbornness to—"

"No!" Oak shouted.

Agent 009 fell silent as she turned towards Oak. In the ensuing silence, Oak mentally flipped between his options. On the one hand, it was his duty to protect the institute and everything in it, including XP-494. On the other hand, it was his duty to protect the researchers as well. Team Rocket only wanted information. Was protecting that information worth risking someone else's life or limb? Oak felt his mind go numb at the thought of even asking himself that question, yet looking at the number of Team Rocket uniforms that surrounded him, he knew how small the number of options he had actually were.

In the meantime, despite her sweet smile, Agent 009 grew impatient. "Yes?"

"All of our laboratories are in the Inner Ring," Oak said. "I can take you—"

Bill shook his head. "Professor, don't!"

Oak sent him a warning glance. Bill immediately closed his mouth and bit his lip, knowing better than to argue with his superior. The grunts tightened their grips around his arms until it hurt, when he could feel the skin and muscle under the thin cotton of his shirt twist with their hands. He refused to cry out in protest. That was what they wanted to hear, and besides, what would they do if he happened to scream?

"I'm sorry. What was that, Professor?" Agent 009 said.

Oak's eyes flashed towards her saccharine grin. "I can take you to the Inner Ring. That's where we're conducting our research on XP-494."

Agent 009 grinned with glistening teeth. "Excellent. Lead the way, then."

---

The elaborate electronic locks and barriers that carefully guarded all three layers of Polaris Institute quickly fell away. Bill hung his head, keeping his eyes on his feet and his expression hidden as they marched him just behind Oak through the three layers of the institute: first the Outer, then the Median, and finally the Inner. The alarm had been disabled long before they left the Median Ring, and the few scientists who were still on edge were quickly pinned by Rocket agents. Oak spoke now and then to Agent 009, but none of his words sank into Bill's skull. Instead, Oak's young colleague found himself focusing on the hands holding him, twisting his skin and muscle under the loose sleeves of his shirt. He winced every time they turned a corner and wrenched his arms with every swift pivot. Somehow, he fought the urge to break out of their grip. He knew that if he tried without a plan, he would get no further than two inches before they seized him again. Looking up, he attempted to find an opening, but there were simply too many black suits. He bit his bottom lip as his hope slowly faded.

Eventually, Oak arrived at the door at the end of the labyrinthine hall. Bill recognized it as the door he'd arrived at earlier in the day, Laboratory F, the room with the tank on the far wall. Briefly, Bill froze in his tracks, unwilling to go further, but the Rockets yanked him forward painfully enough that, as a reaction, his teeth bit painfully into his lip. A salty, metal taste crawled across the tip of his tongue as he watched Oak approach the final lock. Bill felt nothing, as if all of his nerves were suddenly hesitating, each one waiting for Oak's next action. He watched his elder lean forward to pass through the three locks on the door. All he could do was pray that a glitch or some other miracle would prevent that door from opening.

Technology ignored prayer. Instead, each one quickly accepted Oak's signatures, completely oblivious to the crowd behind him. With a cheerful, electronic greeting, the doors opened. And that, Bill knew, was the sure sign that there was nothing left to protect the institute's secrets.

Inside, the scientists at work – both the psychology team and the internal biology team – turned to see countless Rockets flowing into the room. Before a single one of them could protest, they were backed against walls, away from machines and guarded by Rockets. The Rockets that held Bill dragged him into the room and threw him, nearly literally, into one of the groups. He staggered to remain on his feet and glared at his captors as he gingerly rubbed one of his shoulders. Ignoring him, the Rockets formed a wall of black to prevent the scientists from interfering. In the meantime, Agent 009 approached Oak, who stood in the middle of the room.

"Well?" she said. "What can you tell us?"

Oak exhaled. "The data we've found is recorded in the computers that surround you."

Grinning, Agent 009 held up a hand and motioned for her underlings to get to work. Without a word of protest, several Rockets immediately took to computers and machines to record whatever information they could get from the system. In the meantime, Agent 009 glanced back towards Oak. Her violet eyes fell on the window beyond him, and with a smile, she skipped past him to peer through the glass. Inside, a red glow moved from left to right like a firefly in a wine-red sky.

"What's this?" she said with a grin. "Oh, don't tell me!" One of her white-clad fingers rose to prod at the glass. "Is this it? It is, isn't it?"

Oak said nothing, opting instead to merely stare at her.

Grinning, she straightened and turned around. "We'll take it too."

Raising his eyebrows, Oak shook his head. "I can't let you do that. You can have whatever information you like – but not that."

"Oh?"

Agent 009 snapped her fingers. One of the Rockets immediately turned towards her, and she motioned towards him with her hand. With a nod, the Rocket plucked a poké ball from his belt and flicked it towards the center of the room. In seconds, it broke open and released a flash of white light that quickly formed a tyranitar. The green beast threw back his head and emitted a booming roar from the depths of his stone throat.

"We'll take it too," Agent 009 repeated.

Oak shook his head, but he said nothing. His mind tried to piece together a plan. He was painfully aware of the number of Rockets that surrounded him and how fast he was at that age. Both provided too much of a barrier. What could he do?

With a frown, Agent 009 turned towards the agent. "Choose the weakest-looking scientist and experiment on them – to see whether or not they can take a Hyper Beam."

Oak's eyes widened almost to an impossible degree. "_No!_"

He tried to step forward, tried to do something to stop the tyranitar's trainer from selecting one of the scientists when the black wall of Rockets reached forward to grab him and hold him back. There was to be no interfering, and Oak's heart sank at the realization of that fact. A grin crossed the trainer's face as he glanced towards the huddled group of scientists. His arm rose, finger extended towards the willowy Professor Mulberry. With a low growl, the stone dinosaur turned towards the woman, who stood pale-faced in front of the pokémon.

Bill couldn't help but react to this. He couldn't even explain what made him jump at that time. Something pushed him to act, and without thinking, he responded by darting towards Mulberry to shove her out of the way. All he was aware of was Mulberry's scream and the glow of energy forming in the tyranitar's mouth. The dinosaur reared back as Rockets shouted incomprehensible orders. Energy burst into a beam from the stone mouth and careened with a high-pitched wail towards the two targets. At the last moment, the two shifted, and the beam sailed past them, striking a computer that burst into a shower of glass and plastic as Mulberry hit the linoleum floor. Bill was about to follow when a pair of hands grabbed him roughly by the arm and swung him around to throw him into an empty spot at Agent 009's feet.

Agent 009's smile faded into a narrow-eyed frown as she knelt and reached down towards Bill with a white-gloved hand. He struggled to push himself up on his hands when he felt cloth grab his chin and harshly tilt his head back. His eyes watered slightly as he felt long nails dig through the glove and into his skin, but he couldn't turn away. All he could do was stare at the agent's electric-purple eyes.

"You idiot," she hissed. "Don't you know how to deal with Team Rocket? Or haven't you learned anything from watching Professor Oak? Pretending to be a hero doesn't get you anywhere."

She let go of his chin and stood. Before he could even move, she placed a boot on his back and put her weight on that foot to shove him back onto the linoleum.

"I was really hoping you'd be a bit more clever than this," she said to no one in particular. "Well, I guess I can't have all my expectations met." She lifted her purple eyes to tyranitar's trainer. "Have your tyranitar blast open that window. We'll take it when it's stunned."

Oak held his tongue. He wanted desperately to step in and defend the laboratory and his employees, but with so many Rockets, all he could do was stand among the cluster that held him and watch as the trainer directed his tyranitar to turn to the red window.

The beast reared back for a second time. In his mouth, a second yellow ball of energy formed. No one could do anything to stop it. Rockets had the scientists pinned and restrained, and any attempt to disrupt the tyranitar would only result in that energy being released prematurely – at people, at the window, at the machinery. It all was at risk.

When the beam was fired, time seemed to slow. Yellow light surged from the creature's mouth and into the window, which rippled and bent inward at the force of the strike. A red light appeared and floated frantically in the pool of blood and water beyond the glass until finally, the glass gave way. As soon as the glass broke, a chorus of screams rose to fill the room as a rain of glass shards and a cascade of red water surged from the wall and onto the linoleum floor.

Agent 009 darted out of the way to avoid most of surge, but Bill wasn't as quick. Instead, he shielded his head with his arms and buried his face into the floor as salty water slammed the floor in front of him and pooled around him. Glass bit through his clothing and into his skin, but that hardly concerned him as much as the feet of the Rockets who scrambled around and over him. The tyranitar roared above him briefly, just before he heard the crunch of rock smashing metal. He looked up and over his shoulder to see the red beam of a poké ball draw the beast back into its confines before a tower of machinery – its front smashed in, presumably from a strike from the rock lizard – exploded. Crackling electricity arced to the towers next to it. Each of them began to spew smoke, and immediately, the scrambling crowds behind him knew exactly what was about to happen.

Both machines burst into flame. With shrieks, screams, orders from Agent 009 that were largely ignored, people began to stream out of the door as a sea of black and white. Bill forced himself onto his knees. His body ached, and every move he made was sluggish, just as every thought that floated through his head was muddled and confused. He looked down, preparing to plant his hands into the linoleum to force himself to his feet when he saw it. XP-494, the tiny creature, bobbed in the inch of water on the floor as it flashed red light from its body frantically.

Drawing in a breath, Bill jolted, splashing the water as he jumped awkwardly at the sight of the parasite. He slipped to his rear, one wrist smacking into the floor painfully to support him. As it bobbed in the waves he created, XP-494's glow calmed. Bill kept his eyes fixed on the creature, but for the life of him, he couldn't move. He was frozen to the spot.

Behind him, Oak pushed past Rockets in an effort to reenter the room. They didn't even bother to stop him. His dark eyes scanned the area for anyone left, and without much effort, his gaze landed on his young colleague, still sitting in the middle of the room.

"Bill!" he called.

At once, Bill looked up and over his shoulder. As soon as he did, the parasite took advantage of the opportunity and leapt unseen onto his right leg. Swiftly, it darted up his pant leg and onto his shirt while Oak distracted him. Before he had a chance to notice, it slipped under the folds between buttons and continued upward in search of a warm patch of skin.

In the meantime, Oak started forward.

"Are you all right? Can you stand up?" Oak asked. "Come on. We need to leave. The security doors – we have three minutes to get out before they seal the fire in!"

Sucking in a gasp, Bill forced himself to stand.

"Yes, of course," he murmured. "I'm sorry."

Oak didn't seem to notice Bill's confused words. Instead, he turned and hurried the youth along, pulling him towards the door and into the hallway. The room quickly filled with smoke and the red-hot glow of fire as a distant, mechanical voice boomed an alarm and warning to evacuate the area. Bill looked back only briefly as he tried to get his thoughts to settle enough. The rapid march of the past hour went by so quickly, he wasn't quite sure what was real.

Outside, the hallway was empty. The Rockets were long gone, save for their voices rising in a shout as they stampeded in a panic back towards the Median Ring. The barking of growlithe – the security dogs of Polaris – mingled with their screams in the song of a battle neither Oak nor Bill could see. Behind them, the door clanged shut by itself, and the metal locks whirred and clicked into place. Oak loosened his grip on Bill's arm, but he didn't let go for fear that doing so would cause his younger colleague to collapse. He cast a concerned glance towards the other scientist, who stared at the closed door with wide eyes. Oak didn't even need to take a second glance to know something was seriously wrong.

"Bill, are you all right?" Oak said. "Can you walk as far as the medical wing?"

"I…"

Before Bill could finish his thought, his voice caught in his throat. Suddenly, he wrenched his arm away from Oak and bent over as a surge of pain radiated from his chest. A cry escaped his lips as he fell to his knees.

Seasoned researcher or not, even Oak had to jump at the suddenness of Bill's collapse.

"Bill! What is it?" he asked as he reached for the youth's shoulder.

He shook his head. "XP-494…"

Oak's eyes widened as he realized he didn't check for his subject. He was thinking about only the masses of people; it hadn't occurred to him that the thing might have been left behind.

"Is it still in there?" Oak asked as he stepped towards the door.

Again, Bill shook his head. "No! It's… it's…"

Oak watched as Bill quickly took his lab coat off and flung it to the side. Already, his shaking hands were fumbling with getting his shirt off. Taking a step towards him, Oak felt a cold pang of dread fill his chest.

"What? What is it?" he asked.

"It's… _it's on me!_" Bill cried.

His hands desperately tore at the cloth over his chest until he ripped the front of his shirt to shreds. Oak's eyes widened as he watched for a moment before stooping down to Bill's level.

"What?" he asked in a low voice.

Oak grabbed Bill's wrists, and with a bit of resistance, he managed to pull the youth's hands away from his chest. There, beneath Bill's fingers, was the parasite. Already, XP-494's sharp legs burrowed into his skin, and the creature began to glow a deep, blood-red as its bulbous body began to expand. Oak drew in a gasp as he studied Bill's face. The youth's expression twisted in pain.

"Professor," he whispered, "help…"


	3. Two: Gregor Samsa

Two  
(Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams.)

The past twenty-four hours had been chaotic in Polaris Institute. The Rockets eventually disappeared from the complex, no doubt retreating to prepare for another attempt. The Inner Ring was in shambles. Most of the data the research team had gathered was lost to the destroyed computer banks, and the laboratories were left in debris (mostly caused by the chaos and panic of an army of Rockets storming the halls). Already, many members of the team relocated to the Median Ring while many others struggled to salvage anything they could from the destruction. Meanwhile, the Institute was quiet. The outer gates were locked, and the laboratory doors of the Outer Ring were shut tightly – all part of the citadel's computerized self-defense system.

In the infirmary of the Outer Ring, Nettle and Oak stood over one of the hospital beds, next to a Nurse Joy trained in general medicine. All three of them looked down at the occupant of the bed with solemn faces. Bill lay stretched on the bed in an anesthetic-induced sleep and had been for the past several hours. A cotton sheet covered up to his hips, while his chest with the parasite still half-buried in his flesh remained exposed. Long bumps radiated from the parasite, as if snakes slithered under his skin.

"What do we do now?" Nettle muttered. "We lost both McKenzie and the specimen."

Ignoring her for lack of a response, Oak turned to Joy. "What's the latest news?"

Joy shook her head. "I'm sorry, Professor. Officer Jenny is working as quickly as possible to get the security system disarmed. We won't be able to get a surgeon here and ready to operate until tomorrow morning. Until then, my chansey and I have been sedating him. It's the only thing we can do."

Oak closed his eyes and exhaled. Nettle, meanwhile, crossed her arms.

"So, do we wait until it devours him before we can get the specimen?" Nettle asked.

At that, Oak opened his eyes and cast her a grave glance. When he spoke to her, his voice was emotionless. "We aren't letting him die. If there's anything we can do to help him, we will. In the meantime, the chemistry team found eggs in the green substance you took from the rattata. I heard they've hatched only a couple hours ago. Go on and use one of the newborns. I know the team can't wait much longer."

She hesitated slightly in an attempt to read his expression. Oak hadn't slept for nearly two days straight. How could he? Between inspections, reports, repairs, and ensuring the well-being of everyone who should be in the complex (and the ejection of those who weren't), there was absolutely no time to so much as breathe. His weariness was taking a toll on his sense of humor, although given the fact that he adamantly refused to believe one of his own colleagues was about to die, she couldn't blame him. Nonetheless, her own weariness was affecting her own patience with the man.

"That's not exactly my point," Nettle responded flatly. "With all due respect, you realize that there's nothing that can be done to save him, right? We don't even know what it's doing to him right now! Those things under his skin. What are they? What will happen if we try to remove them?"

Ignoring her again (for lack of a response without any evidence to back it up), Oak turned to Joy. "Has anyone notified Professor and Mrs. McKenzie of Goldenrod City?"

Joy blinked and shook her head. "No. We were waiting for your word."

Oak sighed. "I'll contact them. They'll want to know. Maybe we can get them to come see him in the next few days."

Nettle frowned slightly. "Even you think he has little time left."

Turning towards her, Oak gave her a forced smile. "Professor Nettle, until Bill recovers, I'm afraid you'll have to work with three people on your team instead of four. In the meantime, I'll call his family. Cornelius McKenzie. He's working with the Johto branch in New Bark Town, isn't he?" He paused slightly and looked towards the ceiling in thought. The question wasn't directed towards anyone in particular, but he still hesitated as if to wait for someone to respond. "Yes, I think that's right. It's only right that he and his wife know that an accident's happened."

Without another word, Oak turned and swiftly walked from the room.

---

Night in Polaris Institute usually found the halls of the Median Ring almost devoid of people. A few researchers continued to work on the new hatchlings in the laboratories. Otherwise, activity was transferred mostly to the Outer Ring, and even then, most personnel had retreated into their respective dormitories by midnight.

Just after one in the morning, a whistle floated down the hall. One of the janitors, a bulky man in a gray jumpsuit, wheeled a yellow bucket past the doors of each laboratory. Every so often, he stopped and drew a mop out of the bucket. With a wet smack, the mop's medusa head hit the linoleum floor and left a shining trail of soap and water across the cold surface. Unaware of much of his surroundings besides his work, the janitor continued to whistle a lively tune as he pulled and pushed the mop and dunked its head into the bucket every now and then.

He didn't realize anything was watching him. With his back turned towards the areas he'd already mopped, he failed to notice the small, red glow traveling quickly towards him. The thick polyester of the jumpsuit blocked the feeling of the parasite's legs climbing up the back of his calf, thigh, and torso. It wasn't until the parasite found a patch of flesh just above his collar when he finally felt something: the sensation of a pinch. Slapping his neck, he felt only something small, cold, and wet, just like the surrounding sweat-drenched skin. Shrugging, he continued pushing along the hall.

Daybreak came five hours later. By then, the janitor retreated into his room, unaware that anything was wrong. He was fast asleep by the time the institute's only operating room erupted into a flurry of panic.

---

Bill lost track of how much time he spent asleep. He'd retreated into a haze less than a half an hour after the thing burrowed into his chest. Since then, he had been dreaming.

The dreams were strange and incomprehensible. At some points, he had torn off his own skin to find that a metal exoskeleton slick with his blood and the parasite's acid had oozed from unseen pores to cover his body. His bones slipped out of his hands to leave behind flesh-colored gloves, and in their places were silver masses with sharp claws for fingers and garnets in the palms. He would have thought them beautiful if their creation wasn't so grotesque.

He dreamt of internal changes. As if he had eyes inside his body, he watched organs melting, reforming, reshaping, and rearranging to take on new and strange functions. Twice, he died in this dream, but it brought him back – the second heart pulsing on his chest as it reached inside him and pumped him full of its light until his organs throbbed again. It was so warm. Too warm.

The other dream, woven between inner and outer transformations, was the most horrifying of all. Bill knew he should have felt pain. The thing inside him was ripping him apart and reassembling him just as violently. Yet, he felt nothing. He could remember no pain, no torment, nothing to indicate that he was suffering.

Someone else did it for him.

Helpless inside his own mind, Bill could only watch his body move as if it wasn't his. It thrashed. It screamed. It struggled desperately as Nurse Joy's team of chansey tried to restrain it. Between these moments were gaps in which he sensed morphine crawling through his veins or watched his bones crack and reassemble.

He saw glimpses of people he knew. Professor Oak hovered over him at one point. Bill could hear the elder's voice, but it said nothing to him. It was gibberish, spoken with a distant tone. The strips of skin Bill (or whatever was acting in his place) had ripped off his own body were being taken away at those moments along with little red vials of liquid Nurse Joy prepared. (He never felt the needle or the tourniquet, let alone his blood rushing out of his veins.) For the life of him, he couldn't understand why.

Sometimes, there were people he didn't know. At one point, he found himself under bright lights. That caused a flurry of screams and shouts from voices he'd never heard before. Someone masked – a surgeon – stood over him, looking from his face to the people around him.

Bill felt no pain then, even though he knew he was bleeding. He wasn't sure how he knew. In any case, his body reacted, convulsing and crying out without his consent. Something lashed out from his side. It was a flash of red and silver – something he knew he never had before the dream began. Whatever it was, it slashed across the surgeon's wrist, the one that led to the hand that held the scalpel.

There was a spurt of red. He could almost taste the surgeon's blood on his lips, and that seemed to aggravate his body. The surgeon screamed and backed away, and his hand rolled off Bill's chest and onto the floor.

From his place somewhere behind his own eyes, Bill heard the wet thump of dead flesh on tile, but for whatever reason, his brain refused to make sense of it.

Another gap stretched across his memory. Darkness became more frequent than the few glimpses of the dream he had. There were times when he saw himself being wheeled down the corridors between the Rings. He could swear he was strapped down, but because his body didn't react for once, he couldn't move to see. All he had was simply the feeling that he was confined.

Then, there was the glimpse of the empty room, bright white with a bed and a table and a window.

That last image repeated itself several times before finally, he turned over to fall into deeper sleep.

It was a terrifying dream – one that he felt was almost over. But that's all it was.

A dream.

---

"I don't think it's appropriate to think about euthanasia."

Oak crossed his arms and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. The word felt so dirty, and it left a sour taste on his tongue. He gave Nettle an uncertain glance, tearing his eyes away from the window for just a moment.

For the past several days, he'd been in and out of that room, a room that he'd set up to look almost exactly like Laboratory F. The difference (other than the fact that, given that it was the Median Ring, the doors didn't lock quite as tightly as he'd like) was that beyond the window, instead of a massive tank full of blood-tinged water, there was another room. In that room, for the past several days, his young colleague had been fading in and out of consciousness. It scared him to know that when Bill woke up next, there was no way to tell whether it would be _him_ or whatever attacked a number of doctors.

Nettle seemed to know this fact, even if he never voiced it.

"With all due respect," she said, "he cut off the hand of a surgeon, Professor. One of the finest brought in from Cinnabar's hospitals. What's more, we're not even sure what he used to do it." Her eyes trailed back to the window. "Whatever it was, it was not human."

"I know, but…" Oak paused to think of the best words. "This is Bill. He couldn't have meant to do it."

Nettle frowned. "McKenzie might not have meant to do it, but we're not sure who or what that is in that room."

Oak shook his head. "We can't just give up hope that we've lost Bill completely. After all, it wouldn't be right to let a colleague die when there may be something we can do to help him. Besides, you know how I feel about euthanasia."

"They put down growlithe that get too unruly."

At that comment, Oak frowned, but his voice held no trace of anger. "I'd rather see them be released into the wild."

Although Nettle knew better, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. Her mouth drew back into a tight but amused smile.

"Are you proposing to release McKenzie into the wild?" she asked. "Perhaps we can send him to Hoenn with his fellow monsters."

"He's not a monster."

Nettle shook her head as her smile faded. "Perhaps McKenzie wasn't. However, the creature we're dealing with now is not McKenzie. Remember, Professor, if you say McKenzie would never attack another human being, then what attacked those doctors?"

Oak furrowed his eyebrows. "It's too early to think about putting him to sleep. He was a human being." He paused and rubbed his forehead. "I think it would be best to wait until we learn a bit more about him."

"How long do we wait?" Nettle asked without bothering to mask her irritation. "Until he kills someone? And what about the parasite? What if it finishes whatever it's doing to McKenzie, detaches itself, and tries to do the same thing to someone else?" Her voice lowered to a harsh whisper. "We still don't know what we're dealing with here."

"Bill won't hurt anyone. I'll make sure of that, and anyway, even if he attacked Dr. Hawthorn in the operating room, he's still a reasonable human being inside. Maybe there's a part of him that remembers."

"A part of him that remembers," Nettle echoed before Oak could respond to her other question. "Of all the ridiculous things…"

She shook her head once more and looked through the window at the silver creature lying on the bed. From the back, she couldn't see his claws or the parasite nestled in his chest. All she could see was the shiny surface, segmented with a pair of small spikes on the shoulder blades. He looked like an armadillo that way, curled on his side with each sheet of metal angled slightly away from his body. His legs were covered by a thin, white sheet, and behind them, something moved every so often. He'd lost the soft, green curls crowning his head sometime during the transformation (namely, at the time he'd been busy ripping off his own skin), and in their place were silver bristles, still growing to cover his head like a wire brush. In the middle of the field of bristles, two rounded horns rose from both sides of his head, horns with dull points and no apparent purpose. Nettle could only wonder if they would become just as dangerous weapons as the creature's limbs.

"Perhaps there may be an alternative," she said.

Oak looked her way. "Alternative? What did you have in mind?"

"Conditioning," she replied. "We can bring in a hypno or other pokémon capable of hypnosis to control his behavior. If not, we could possibly train him to restrain himself in the presence of human beings."

Oak raised his eyebrows. "Hypnosis? That sounds a little extreme, Professor Nettle."

Nettle sighed. "Professor, I don't mean to overstep my boundaries, but you must stop thinking of him as your colleague. He _is_ a dangerous creature now, one that could seriously hurt members of this organization if we leave him unchecked. One that already has."

At her words, Oak swallowed hard and looked back towards the window. She had a point; Bill could seriously injure someone. As difficult a fact as it was to accept that, Oak had no choice but to admit it was true, especially after the incident in the medical wing and how much trouble the staff went through to restrain him and transport him to this room. As much as he respected Bill, he knew Nettle was right about needing to confine him now too. Yet, on the other hand, he couldn't help but continue thinking of the creature in the other room as being human – or a living creature at all, not some vicious monster that had to be put down or forcibly controlled. His frown deepened.

"I'll call the Committee," he said. "Maybe they can shed some light on what should be done."

Nettle heaved a small sigh. "You don't have much of a choice, Professor."

Oak turned towards the door, but before he walked away, he forced himself to smile. His expression was weak and weary, but it held the flicker of warmth he had several days ago.

"If it was you in that room, Professor Nettle, I think you'd want me to ask the Committee too," he said.

He waited for her response. When he saw her merely stare at him, he gave her a firm nod and a reassuring smile, though she wasn't quite sure why he was reassuring her at all. With that, he walked quickly beyond the rows of computers and out the door.

She stood where he'd left her. For several moments, she waited, turning over his last words in her mind. Eventually, she turned back to the window and peered at the subject, still lying quietly in the bed. One of her pale hands reached up to adjust her wire-rimmed glasses as a scowl crossed her lips.

"Weak old fool," she murmured.

---

When the dream receded and Bill felt his body for the first time in days, he awoke with a start. Immediately after, he wished he hadn't. The pure, white walls reflected the light of the fluorescent lamp overhead (despite the fact that the light itself was fairly dim), and as a result, the transition between perfect darkness and intense white sent a stabbing pain through his eyes. He winced, shutting his eyes tightly and turning his head away for a moment. Slowly, he opened one eye and let it adjust to the light. Then, he opened the other and blinked several times until he could finally see.

The second sensation he felt was a shiver running through his body. He wasn't cold. In fact, he was actually quite warm, but it was his muscles. Each one felt like a vibrating current was running through them. On top of that, he felt like he barely had any energy, and his stomach felt like it was trying to twist itself into a knot. He groaned, the sound rumbling painfully in his throat as he curled a bit tighter into a ball. Eventually, he was aware of the thin blanket covering him, and in a futile attempt to stop himself from shivering, he tried to pull at it to cover the rest of his body and convince it that it wasn't cold.

That, naturally, didn't work. Doing his best to keep himself from getting frustrated at what minimal control over himself that he had, Bill opted for ignoring the shivering altogether. Instead, he craned his neck and peered at as much of the room as he could. It was exactly the way he saw it in his dream. The bed was in the middle of the room, and across a small gap was a metal table with only one chair placed beside it. There were no other furnishings in the room, nothing to use to amuse himself. The walls were bare except a door on the wall to his left and window beside it through which, from that angle looking over his shoulder, he could only see the tops of machines. Otherwise, no windows looked towards the outside, and no pictures decorated the walls.

_Well, this is rather austere,_ Bill thought. It was a trivial matter, but he felt he had to keep himself thinking.

Carefully, he forced himself to sit up, keeping his eyes on the window. His stomach continued to radiate pain, to which he responded with a wince and a slightly more violent shiver. Exhaling a shuddering breath, he wrapped his arms around himself.

Instantly, he knew something was wrong.

He heard the sound of metal on metal and felt his fingers trail along something smooth and hard. An overwhelming sense of fear gripped his mind as he felt his breathing grow slightly more rapid. Slowly, he looked down at his hands to find the silver claws from his dream. A shudder ran down his back again as he carefully lifted them in front of his face to examine them carefully. The smooth surfaces of the red jewels in his palms glinted in the light, and the sharp edges of his claws seemed to shine.

With a shocked cry, Bill pushed himself out of the bed and nearly fell to the floor. Instead, he stumbled to clawed feet – or rather, the clawed toes of them, given that his feet had somehow taken a more reptilian appearance while he'd slept. He tried to back away from the bed, but something else tangled around his already awkward feet. In seconds, he was sent sprawling with a bang across the hard floor, and a bolt of pain shot up his spine. Shaking with terror and weakness, he curled into a ball for a moment until he could convince himself to look. With careful movements, he forced himself to sit up again and gazed down at his strange, three-clawed feet again. Across one and under another, a segmented wire was draped. Its silver, arrowhead tip lay just beyond his right foot, and the beginning looped out of Bill's sight. Part of him felt like he didn't want to know what it was. The other part of him, the one that was infinitely curious, forced him to reach out and touch the tip.

He felt it on both ends: the metal of the tip on his fingertips and the metal of his fingertips on the tip. Like electricity, sensation shot through the wire and shocked Bill's spine for a second time. He sucked in a gasp as he winced at the feeling. Opening his eyes slightly, he stared at the arrowhead tip again and wrapped his arms around himself. He didn't want anything to do with it, but the curious part of his mind told him to move it.

It twitched on his command. Drawing in a breath, he tried to get it to do something else. Slowly, it wove its way back around his feet and slipped behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see his smooth back and the other end of the wire where it was connected to him at exactly where he expected the base of his spine to be.

"A tail," he murmured. "A _tail_."

As if it had a mind of its own and was incredibly happy to be acknowledged, the tail rose and curled in the air in a lazy wag. With another shudder, Bill buried his face in his hands.

"This is a dream," he said. "This is another dream. That's all this is. I'm dreaming. Yes."

His fingers felt something rough on the top of his head. He swallowed again as he let his left hand play across the bristles where there were once curls. Eventually, they came in contact with something hard, and with a numb feeling, his fingertips traced the smooth edge of a horn. It seemed oddly sensitive to his touch, and a cold pain laced through his skull. He clenched his teeth and placed his hands on the floor, spreading the fingers out with soft scratches.

With a deep breath, he took another look at his body – namely, at the other occupant of it. The parasite remained where it was, latched onto the front of his chest. Now, he couldn't tell that it was ever a separate living creature, rather than just a piece of decoration. The only clue to its true nature came in a red pulse of light that ran across its surface every so often. He trembled at the thought of what it might be and lifted a hand to touch it. In his horror, he realized he could feel his claws brushing against its smooth surface as if it was just as much a part of him as anything else. He thought about bracing himself against the pain and pulling it out with his hands, but his eyes caught sight of the small lumps that radiated from it – tendrils that snaked under his metal skin and disappeared a few inches out from all sides into smooth armor. No doubt the tendrils were meant to ensure that pulling out the parasite would result in far more damage than he'd want.

"This can't be real," he whispered. "It's not. It's… it's just a dream. That's all."

Clenching his teeth, he turned his gaze sharply to the window. Questions filled his mind to the point where they crashed into each other and left him in a dazed fog. Words pulled apart sentences to form muddled, incoherent thoughts. He whimpered slightly as he pulled himself to the bed and placed his hands on the edge of it. His eyes tried not to look at his claws as he struggled to stand up. All he knew was he wanted answers, but to what? He couldn't quite think of the right questions. His mind couldn't sort through all of them at once to find the most important ones.

Some of them, of course, were simple. _What happened to me?_ _What am I? What is this place?_ But then, there were others, questions within questions and questions, like the first, that he wasn't sure actually had answers.

His feet felt strange when he put weight on them – proper weight. He resisted every temptation to look down. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. All six of the clawed toes that were supporting him spread and took his weight as if he was born with those reptilian feet. Meanwhile, his mind couldn't help but notice this came a little _too_ naturally for his liking.

_Try walking._

He wasn't sure if the thought came from the back of his mind or outside himself, but a voice echoed those two words through his skull as if they were both whispered in his ear and came to him as internal monologue. It didn't occur to him that it might have been strange. Instead, he agreed. Awkwardly, he placed one foot in front of another to work his way around the bed. At first, he swayed at each step as if he was about to fall backwards, but little by little, as if he was relearning something he knew all along by touch, he began to understand how his legs worked. By the time he reached the door, he no longer had his arms outward to keep his balance, and he walked stiffly but without the threat of pitching off his toes. A nagging thought at the back of his mind made him realize he'd learned how to keep his balance a little too quickly. Part of him felt a sense of shock at that fact, and he hesitated at the door when that shock gave way to fear.

_What's happening to me?_

The question repeated itself as a mantra through his mind for a few moments. His hands began to shake, and the metal began to feel cold against… against what? Did he even have skin anymore underneath all that armor?

Closing his eyes, he leaned forward and placed both hands on the metal door. Metal, like everything else. He felt his heart beat a little faster and his hands shake against the door.

_No. You've got to control yourself._

He opened his eyes.

_Calm yourself. Think. There's no one to help you here, and you won't help yourself if you let yourself panic._

It took a moment of repeating those words over and over again before Bill finally felt himself calm down enough to think about his situation. Eventually, he came to the realization that he needed to get out. Get out – that's how he'll get his questions answered. He needed to find someone, and he wasn't going to find anyone to help him if he stayed in that room.

One of his hands slid downward towards where he expected a knob or handle to be. When it felt nothing but the smooth surface of the door, he looked down and found that, in fact, there _was_ nothing there. No handle, no knob, nothing to open the door from his side.

Right about then, he realized they'd locked him in.

Panic rose in his chest again, and he stumbled to the side, towards the window. Trapped. All he could think about was being trapped.

When he looked out the window, he could see a near replica of Laboratory F. His breathing still came in heaved gasps, as if he'd been sprinting, and his eyes went wide as he gazed at the rows of computers and the men and women in white coats fluttering from one to another like bees in a hive. He swallowed cold saliva as he tried to calm his breathing enough to address them. One of his clawed hands reached up to the glass, palm pressed against the cool surface as his fingers fanned out. None of them seemed to notice him.

"Hello…?" He realized his voice came across quietly. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. "Hey!"

The closest workers looked up. Their faces paled slightly as they examined Bill's face. All of a sudden, he felt naked and wondered if it would have been a better idea to use the blanket to cover as much of his body as he could. Still, it was too late to go back, and it wasn't important except to make him look slightly more human. He would just have to convince them he didn't mean any harm.

"Please," he said. "I need your help. I don't know what happened."

The two workers exchanged glances, then looked over their shoulders towards the other scientists. He saw their lips move, but not a word filtered through the glass. It succeeded, however, in getting the attention of the other scientists, who each looked towards the glass with startled glances.

By then, Bill knew things weren't going his way. He placed his other hand on the glass to show he had nothing to use to threaten them.

"No, don't panic," he pleaded. "Please. Could one of you tell me what's going on?"

All of them seemed to ignore his request. Instead, they broke away from the machinery and bustled through the room, frantically hitting buttons and flipping switches. One of them even picked up a phone and began placing a call on the other side of the room, but from there, Bill couldn't see which number was being dialed to tell who that one might have been calling. Distracted by the scientist at the other end of the room, he didn't notice one of them grab a microphone on the machine nearest to the window.

"Step away from the window."

Bill jumped at the booming voice that filled his silent room. He glanced at the walls and corners to find some speaker that he might have missed, but he could see nothing. Glancing back at the window, he retreated to the bed and sat down.

"I'm sorry," he said as loudly and clearly as possible. "Is there anyone who can tell me—"

"Professor Nettle will arrive shortly," the voice replied before the question was finished.

Although Nettle wasn't his first choice for someone to speak to so soon, Bill still felt a wave of relief. He would have spoken to anyone as long as he was given the explanations he wanted desperately.

"Thank you," he said after a long moment.

No one responded, and once again, the room fell into silence. Bill didn't mind this time; the relief of knowing someone was coming excited him too much. Minutes couldn't pass quickly enough, and ten minutes felt like an eternity and a half. At first, Bill kept his eyes on the glass as he let his tail wag back and forth. Part of him was conscious of it and felt each muscle move fluidly to amuse himself. That distracted him for the first few minutes before his restlessness got to him again. Rising to his feet, he began pacing back and forth in front of the window. His thoughts stumbled over each other again in a mad rush of excitement. They would know what to do, surely. And if not, he would at least be let out of that room and be led to someone who could help. All he wanted, more than anything, was to leave that room and find someone to talk to. Anyone could be comforting enough.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of new movement. Looking up, he saw Nettle standing at the window, flanked by two scientists working on machinery in front of her. With a smile, he approached, remembering to put some distance between himself and the glass.

"Professor Nettle!" he exclaimed. "Thank goodness! I'm very glad to see you."

She raised her eyebrows for a moment as she stared at him. Then, she turned her head and began speaking to the scientist on her right. Once again, Bill couldn't tell what she was saying, and part of him felt a little alarmed by that.

In an attempt to get her attention again, he added, "Professor, perhaps you could tell me what's going on."

Falling silent, she turned her gaze back to the window. The scientist she had addressed pressed a button on his console. Suddenly, Bill began to hear a strange hiss coming from the corners of the room. Glancing towards them, he started to see white puffs of smoke rush from unseen pipes.

By then, Bill knew without a doubt things weren't going his way.

He took another step back and looked at Nettle with a horrified expression. "What is that? What's going on? Professor Nettle, please tell me!"

She said nothing. Instead, she watched as the white smoke quickly filled the room and obscured the creature within it. In an attempt to avoid the cloud, Bill ducked and dodged to remain in clear patches of air, but soon, there was nowhere left to go. He coughed and gagged as the smoke dried his throat and entered his lungs. Stumbling, he hunched over and reached out for the bed.

His head felt heavy, as if it was filled with cotton. Swaying on his feet, he realized with horror what was being pumped into the room.

"Sleeping gas," he murmured.

Glancing back towards the window, he stared with wide eyes towards Nettle. Her silhouette remained framed in white, but otherwise, the smoke obscured her features. Slowly, even her outline began to blur as Bill found it harder and harder to keep his eyes open.

"What ha…?" he whispered.

The last syllable came out as a heavy sigh. Unable to fight his drowsiness, Bill closed his eyes, and seconds later, he was on the floor. He'd fallen into a deep sleep before he even hit the cement.


	4. Three: War Machine

Three  
(The war machine springs to life, opens up one eager eye.)

Project Stardust was essentially a hierarchy. At the bottom were the very fundamental grunts of each individual complex, the interns and such who worked on the project but had very little actual information on the overall situation. Then, there were several different levels of scientists, based on credentials and ability. Near the top was the complex director, people like Oak who oversaw the entire facility and every happening within it.

Above that was the Committee.

Its full name was hardly ever used by its members, and no one else who knew about its presence ever felt the need to know what it was. All anyone knew was that it was simply a board of individuals who oversaw the funding and activity of government-sponsored scientific endeavors. In other words, they were the ones currently in charge of Project Stardust, monitoring all operations, collecting all information, and deciding the best choice of action based on the research they received. They funded the efforts, summoned each scientist, and most importantly, watched each designated research facility carefully.

Presently, they sat behind their long desk as shadowed figures with unseen eyes fixed on the screen in front of them. On it, the image of Oak flickered, waiting for their comments. One of the board members flipped through a stack of papers sitting in front of him without even looking at it.

"If I understand you correctly," he said, "you have lost one of our researchers – the one we've selected after careful deliberation based on your reports – to the infection of XP-494."

Oak fixed his jaw, refusing to show any emotion but serenity. "He's infected, but I wouldn't call him lost."

Another board member leaned over the table and gazed towards the center man. "Professor Oak is correct. While we may have lost the specimen as an individual, reports state that hundreds of others have hatched in the facility."

"From the carcass of a test rattata," a woman added. "Yes, we have no shortage of XP-494A."

Oak furrowed his eyebrows. That wasn't the first time he'd heard a letter being tacked onto the end of a temporary designation. Typically, when the name of a new pokémon species was pending according to the Pokémon Symposium, it was simply referred to as XP, followed by its number in the National Dex. Therefore, XP-494 literally meant "Unidentified Pokémon #494," the first entry after the documented legend, Arceus. Letters at the end of such designations, Oak recalled, tended to be rare and usually indicated alternate forms: A for the first, B for the second, and so on. In fact, the practice was so rare, only a handful were documented as such prior to receiving their official names, with the last noted case being XP-423A and 423B – gastrodon from the western seas of Sinnoh and gastrodon from the eastern, respectively. If the pokémon he knew as XP-494 was merely only the A form, he wondered briefly what terrible forms XP-494B might take.

"As for the victim," the second man continued, "perhaps there may be some use for him. It would be beneficial to our race to understand the infection and the aftermath. He is only one individual – surely not dangerous if contained properly. If we can gain further insight to the behavior of XP-494, then perhaps we should keep him in Polaris Institute."

A third woman, the one next to the first, leaned over the table to look at him. "May I remind you that the victim has already displayed violent tendencies. A specimen this large and equipped with an arsenal we do not fully understand—"

"Which is why I propose he should be under careful surveillance. If we take care in handling XP-494B—"

Oak couldn't help but interject. "XP-494B? When did we receive one?"

The Committee fell silent. For a moment, Oak's steady glance wavered to betray his uncertainty. However, he had a feeling the leader smiled in the shadows.

"Allow me to explain," he said with careful patience. "XP-494A is, by itself, its own pokémon with only one attack: Leech Life. You've documented this well."

Oak said nothing. He knew it was true. All those weeks, and that was one of the only things Polaris Institute knew for certain.

"But," the leader added, "it is primarily a parasite. For reasons unknown, when it comes in contact with pokémon, it merely lacerates them and lays eggs in the victim's body. You've also documented this well. However, when it comes in contact with a human being, it excretes a mutagen that triggers a complete biological transformation within the host."

"It's been theorized by Sinnoh's team that it tests the stability of all its hosts, but human beings possess weaker natural defenses than pokémon life," the first woman added. "So, rather than attempt to consume and lay eggs within a weak body, they fuse with and alter their hosts to serve as vessels for their own survival."

Oak's shoulders tensed. "In other words, the pokémon you designate as XP-494B is…"

"Is both the parasite and the human host," the leader said with a nod. "There is no actual evolution involved, but we consider it comparable to the relationship between shellder and slowbro. The shellder – in this case, XP-494A – is its own pokémon, but it feeds and benefits primarily on the host. The host, meanwhile becomes the primary pokémon, though genetically, it is simply a hybrid of its human self and XP-494A. You've proven this through the results of the blood and skin tissue samples taken from McKenzie."

For a long moment, Oak was silent. His face remained expressionless as he let what they were saying sink in. Even then, what he'd just heard was almost dizzying.

"I'm not sure I understand," he said.

"We do not expect you to right now," the leader said. "It will be your job to learn what you can from McKenzie."

Oak raised his eyebrows. "You're letting him stay at the Institute?"

The leader bowed his shadowed head. "Frankly, Professor, and I forcibly speak on behalf of the rest of the Committee, I do not see a benefit in either destroying the specimen or exiling him to Hoenn. If we carefully monitor his behavior as my colleague had said, then he may help us understand the alien more than we could have simply observing its A form."

Oak nodded. He didn't quite feel right considering one of his colleagues to be a lab subject, but he couldn't argue with that logic, either.

"Of course," he said. "I thought as much."

"Yes." The leader raised his head. "We must warn you, though. Have you heard the news about the Orange Islands' Valencia Center of Science and Technology?"

"I'm afraid I haven't," Oak said with a shake of his head.

The lead man leaned back in his dark chair. "In that case, send him the clip."

There was a clacking sound nearby as a technician worked on a computer in the corner of the room. Oak stood back, waiting for whatever the Committee was sending him as the leader tilted his head to the side.

"What you are about to see is the subject known as Codename Pandora," he said. "Early in the project, a young intern from Valencia Center was infected with the parasite you know as XP-494A during a routine experiment. Over the next week, she underwent physical changes not unlike the ones you have observed with McKenzie's transformation. This tape was found several months later when rescue efforts attempted to retrieve the bodies of the research team from beneath the rubble of Valencia Center."

Immediately, the Committee disappeared to Oak's eyes. In their place was a black-and-white clip of a young, dark-haired woman in a hospital gown seated in an otherwise empty room with the parasite glistening on her exposed shoulder. At first, it was simply a shot of her, swaying as she tried to remain conscious in the chair as tendrils flicked beneath the skin of her shoulder. The clip cut abruptly to the image of the woman with her head craned back and several scientists gathered around her. One of them attempted to administer an anesthetic through a long needle, but her flailing arms knocked the syringe flying. Pale crystals jutted out of her skin, which hung in shredded flaps from her infected shoulder.

The clip cut again. This time, her hair had fallen out, and a pair of rounded horns jutted out of her skull. Her entire body took on a shimmering coat of ice, interrupted every so often by a crystal spike jutting from the skin. As she shivered, the creature's thin arms wrapped around her naked body. The parasite glistened like a third eye on her shoulder as she cried out, silently due to a lack of audio. A few more men in lab coats immediately responded by approaching her with syringes in hand. Their bodies shielded most of her from view, save for the limbs that flashed above their heads as she entered another seizure.

It cut again. The girl sat with her long, pale hair shielding her pallid face. Beneath the chair, a tail, seemingly made of crystal, flicked back and forth. The chair's occupant sat perched with her knees hugged tightly to her chest and her clawed feet curled around the edge of the chair. The back of a scientist appeared in the side of the shot. His hands moved as if he was speaking with her, to which she responded by lifting her head.

In the next instant, no one was in the chair, and the scientist had disappeared. Something dark sprayed across the lens of the camera, partly obscuring the image of the otherwise empty room.

Then, a mouth with a pair of long fangs appeared in the shot, followed by a split second of a claw.

Static followed, the only sound that broke the long silence.

The clip was replaced by the image of the Committee, who waited in a dark stillness for Oak's response. He fell silent. His face was pale, but he set his jaw in a stubborn drive to maintain composure. Without saying a word, he waited for the Committee to speak. At long last, the leader cleared his throat.

"As you can see," he said, "XP-494B is not a creature to be taken lightly. While we do not wish to believe that one of our own is capable of reaching this state, we cannot take any chances. Observe him carefully. Do not sedate him or attempt to control his behavior. We fear that will produce inaccurate data. However, keep your staff well separated from him. Have Pandora be a reminder to you as to what will happen if you neglect to keep your distance."

The leader paused for a beat, as if to let his orders sink into Oak's brain. Then, he drew a breath.

"Incidentally," he added, "if you would like to know the end result of that error, the National Defense Force has placed Valencia Island under the same quarantine as Hoenn. Do not let the same happen to Cinnabar Island. We cannot afford it."

Oak listened carefully and nodded once the leader paused. "I understand."

The leader straightened. "Additionally, we will send you the reports salvaged from Valencia on Pandora to establish your base of information. In the meantime, we request that your reports designate McKenzie as Codename Adam to similarly protect the subject's identity so we may share your findings with other institutions."

_Like Johto's,_ Oak thought. He still hadn't been able to track down Bill's father, and the last thing he knew the man would want would be to find out about his son's condition through a lab report.

"Yes, of course," Oak finally said. "Is there anything else I should know?"

The leader shook his head. "Just that we will take special interest in Polaris from now onward. Very rarely have we been able to study XP-494B. The first and last instance was Pandora, who had completely surprised us with both her generation and her behavior. We can only emphasize that if a similar reaction occurs every time XP-494A comes in contact with a human being, it should be quite obvious that maintaining Adam's captivity at this moment is of the utmost importance."

Oak inhaled. "Yes. I understand."

"Very good."

Before Oak could say anything else, the call cut off, and the screen faded to complete black. Oak leaned back in his chair, his eyes staring steadily at his wide, wooden desk. Slowly, his eyelids lowered, and he felt himself already drifting off to sleep.

No sooner had he begun to doze when a knock broke his stupor. Looking up, he cleared his throat and responded.

"Come in!"

It took a moment, but the door opened to allow a small, dark-haired girl to shuffle in. He immediately recognized her as one of the interns from the biochemistry team and, for her, straightened and forced a smile to make her feel less intimidated. She, meanwhile, still looked heavily nervous about being in that office.

"Yes?" he asked. "Go on."

She drummed her fingertips on a manila folder in her arms. "I'm sorry, sir, but the biochemistry team sent me to deliver the results of the blood tests you ordered."

Stepping forward, she slipped the folder on Oak's desk. He opened it and began to read the reports.

"Thank you," he said, his smile still lingering on his face.

She nodded and stepped back. For a few moments, she waited by the door for his dismissal. Her limbs were stiff at her sides, and she stared at the old man with the look of a terrified buneary. He looked up, blinking in confusion as to why she was still there.

"You can go now," he said. "I'm sure you have work to do in Lab 9."

Shifting on her feet, she looked a little nervous. Laboratory 9, after all, was the room with the infected human. As if to read her mind through her expression, Oak chuckled.

"Don't worry. He's harmless," he said, although inside, he wasn't sure if that was the total truth. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"No, it's not that," she said with a slow shake of her head. "It's just that we're a bit behind schedule. The psychology team."

Oak raised his eyebrows. "What about the psychology team?"

The intern stiffened. Clearly, she'd thought he'd already heard. "I… I, um…"

Gently, Oak tapped the folder close. "Go on. What happened?"

"They spent an extra half an hour attempting to revive the specimen," she murmured as her head bent low. "Apparently, they tried to subdue him with sleeping gas, but then, they had to administer resuscitation because he stopped…"

Before she could even finish, Oak was on his feet and storming out the door.

---

Bill was really getting tired of nearly dying every time he went to sleep. As soon as he passed out from the sleeping gas, he found himself drawing inward and observing things from the back of his mind again, just as he had hours ago. There, he sensed his heart and his breathing falter, the rhythm of his body slowly drawing to a stop. In the darkness, he could hear vague voices, a commotion outside, but for the life of him, he couldn't make much more of it.

_You're dying._

The voice in his head sounded like his, but it startled him to hear it float through his mind.

_Well, yes,_ he thought. _I suppose I am._

In the void, he saw a flicker of red light.

_Do you do this often?_

If he could move his body, he would have blinked at the question.

_Dying? Not frequently, no._

At that point, he felt something for the first time since he'd fallen asleep. Something warm caressed his heart. He felt the thing seize it and grip it. The sensation wasn't exactly painful, but it took him by surprise. Whatever it was – and it was almost certainly his companion – it was forcing his heart to keep beating.

_That won't do,_ the voice said. _Stay alive._

He opened his mouth in a shuddering gasp. Outside, he could hear the voices grow frantic. He wasn't sure if his body was moving without his consent again.

Eventually, the rhythm of his breathing returned. The warm hands retreated from his heart, and it beat on its own. He stared in uncertainty at the red glow.

_Good. Now, wake up._

Although the voice in his head made Bill feel unsettled, he felt compelled to follow its advice.

---

In Laboratory 9, Professor Oak stood by the window, his dark eyes staring wearily through the window. Nettle had been dismissed. The affair was polite, but it essentially ended with Oak asking her who gave her permission to gas a pokémon whose internal physiology and reactions to chemicals were still unknown. She had nothing to say to that, luckily enough, and now, he was mostly alone to direct scientists who had fewer urges to literally kill the subject.

He shifted on his feet and turned the terms over in his head again. There really wasn't much choice but to face the facts, and the truth was that Bill was classified as not only a new pokémon but also a lab subject. That was what the Committee stated, and Oak was in no position to contest it.

Closing his eyes, he exhaled. It was entirely too overwhelming. In all his years as a researcher, he'd never seen anything like what had taken place within the past several days.

"Professor," an intern said at his side, "we're getting some activity inside."

He opened his eyes just as the groan came across the speakers. Stepping forward, he watched as Bill moved, placing both hands on his head.

"Ow," Bill murmured, seemingly unaware that his voice carried through the sound systems to the other room. "My head…"

Claws felt the wiry hair and the horns. Bill paused, lingering on the feeling of sharp metal on bone. Then, he forced himself to sit up, eyes looking down at his legs again. Wearily, a hand reached behind him and tugged at the wire jutting out of his back until his tail pulled free from under his weight.

"Oh," he whispered as he stared at the wire. "I'd nearly forgotten."

Oak frowned slightly. "He sounds all right. Open a channel."

The intern at the controls nodded and flipped a switch. Keeping his eyes on the window, Oak put on his warmest smile.

"Bill?"

In response, his former colleague jumped and nearly toppled off the bed. His wide eyes darted around the room in search of the speakers until they fell on the window. He blinked as he stared in surprise at the visitor.

Oak began to grow a little concerned by his expression. What if Nettle was correct?

Drawing in a breath, Oak's smile faded slightly. "Do you remember me?"

Bill tilted his head and responded in a soft voice. "Certainly, Professor. I couldn't possibly forget you."

Oak nodded. "Of course. Do you know who you are?"

"Yes, of course." There was a beat of hesitation before Bill's voice lowered in volume. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no." Oak shook his head. "Don't worry. You're fine now."

Bill ventured a small but uncertain grin. "I suppose, Professor, compared to a moment ago. What happened?"

Oak's smile completely faded. "Professor Nettle ordered you to be sedated with sleeping gas because she thought you were being hostile. I'm sorry, Bill. We had no idea it would affect you that severely. We should have known better than to use something on you when we don't know how you would react to it, but I'm happy to see you came through all right." With that, the smile returned.

Bill listened to his explanation, nodding slowly until Oak was finished. "I assumed as much, but…" He rubbed his head with one of his clawed hands. "I meant what happened? What exactly am I… and how did this occur?"

At that point, Oak exhaled slowly in thought. He glanced towards the other scientists, who were working fervently at their stations. Then, he turned his gaze back towards Bill. He wanted nothing more than to answer the youth's questions, but even he was at a loss for explanations. All he could do was offer a reassuring smile as he wondered briefly not only why Bill seemed oddly calm about the situation but also how to keep him that way. It would, as Oak thought, be infinitely easier to deal with a rational person than someone in a panic.

"You haven't eaten in awhile, have you? Are you feeling up to it?"

Bill straightened where he sat and blinked. "Well, ah… Now that you mention it…" He looked away and placed a hand over his stomach. When he spoke again, his voice was even softer than usual. "I _am_ a bit hungry… but…"

Oak waved a hand in the air. "In that case, let's have lunch." He turned to the intern beside him. "Would you mind preparing something for our friend there? The specifics should be the same as those for the A form. Give him water too, in case it doesn't agree with him."

The intern nodded. "Right away, sir."

At once, the young man sitting beside him stood and prepared to leave. After a moment, Oak reached for his shoulder.

"Oh, and, ah…"

The intern raised his eyebrows. "Yes, sir?"

"I could use a turkey sandwich on rye and some water myself," he said with a sheepish grin. "Don't forget to keep my meal separate from his."

For a long moment, the intern stared blankly at him. Then, finally, he nodded.

"Right away, sir."

That was one good thing about being the director: with the exception of Nettle, people often listened to him.

---

It had taken some insistences for Oak to convince the scientists to let him in and for one of Nurse Joy's chansey to be sent there as a guard. Minutes ticked by until finally, after more than a half an hour, Professor Oak sat in the chair he'd dragged to the bedside. A tray with his order sat on his lap. Meanwhile, the intern he'd spoken to moments ago was handing Bill a covered, paper cup. Without another word, the intern retreated to the corner of the room closest to the door with another cup filled with water still in hand. Oak watched Bill with a cautious eye as the latter took the cover off and examined the contents of the cup.

"How are you feeling?" Oak finally asked.

"A bit like Gregor Samsa," he murmured, "but other than that, I…"

Bill closed his eyes. Strange smells were plaguing his nose at that point. He'd become aware of the ones Oak and the others brought with them into the room. The humans smelled sweet and sour, almost unpleasant. There was a scent of sweat that lay thick on top of the other odor he couldn't identify. He could smell the paper cups, the chansey (who, to him, smelled sweet and earthy), and the sandwich that sat in front of Oak, but when he removed the lid of his cup and stared at the red liquid, he caught the scent of something powerful. It had a bitter smell, one he would readily describe as being "coppery." He couldn't completely define what it was about that odor that made him sway, but it did.

That, naturally, made Oak straighten in his seat.

"Bill? Are you all right?"

Opening his eyes, he cast Oak a confused glance. "Ah… Yes. I-I'm fine. I just… feel a bit weak right now."

Bringing the cup to his lips, he took a small sip. A salty, metallic taste spread across his tongue, and that alone made his stomach rumble with hunger. Something about it made him feel relaxed.

Noting the lack of a violent reaction and Bill's expression, Oak exhaled with relief a moment after his younger colleague took his first sip. The elder researcher hoped both meant the rest of the conversation would go easily.

"Eh, I should've figured as much," he said. "You've been in and out of consciousness for nearly two weeks."

Bill jolted, his eyes growing wide. "Two _weeks_?"

Oak nodded. "Yes. We were worried we wouldn't be speaking to you again."

"Professor…" Bill's hands curled around his cup with a slightly tighter grip. "The team…"

"Don't worry!" Oak said as he waved a hand. "They're doing just fine, and all of them understand you couldn't possibly put in a day's work. No one's going to make you get out of bed if you're not feeling up to it."

Bill pursed his lips for a moment in thought. He stared at his cup in the meantime until finally, he took another sip.

"I think," he said, "I should be getting back to work tomorrow."

Oak leaned back in his chair. "Tomorrow? Bill, as much as I love a person's enthusiasm about pokémon, don't you think you're pushing yourself too much? You'll have to stay here for another day or two to recover. You only woke up today, after all."

"I know." Bill sighed. "I need to know, though. As soon as possible."

Raising his eyebrows, Oak studied his companion carefully. "What do you need to know?"

Bill brought the cup to his lips. Whatever the liquid was, it acted almost like a sedative. He could feel himself relax, rather than panic or plead for information. Instead, he asked his next question just as casually as a question about how fine the weather might have been.

"What happened to me?"

Oak drew in a breath. He knew that question was coming, yet despite that, he was having difficulties preparing an answer. Bill's dark eyes were on the professor now, and as Oak stared into them, he found it difficult to lie or withhold the information the Committee had told him. Knowing Bill, Oak knew very well that he would find out either way, regardless of whether or not he told him. After all, Oak knew that finding out even the most carefully guarded information was something that Bill was very good at doing.

"There are two forms of XP-494," Oak explained. "XP-494A is the form we've been studying since the first day. XP-494B is the form that's just been discovered in the time you've been out."

Bill furrowed his eyebrows. "XP-494B?" His voice broke slightly as he continued. "Professor… how does this answer my question?"

Oak exhaled slowly. "While you were out, I've had the institute split into two groups. One continued studying XP-494A, which we've hatched from eggs found in that experimental rattata you worked with the day of the accident. The other began studying XP-494B."

There was a silence. Oak looked at Bill's face, but all he could see was an expression of confusion. Bill, meanwhile, felt as if there was an obvious truth right there, but his mind refused to touch it. He kept it out of his reach with the hope that if he didn't think about it, it wouldn't be true.

Unaware of this mental block, Oak hunched over slightly as he finally delivered the truth. "Bill, XP-494B is you."

Looking up, Oak waited for a response. The expression of confusion melted away, leaving nothing but blankness behind. Bill sat with the cup in his lap and his lips turning pale. Then, after a moment, they drew into a small smile. Oak gripped his tray. He didn't quite know what to make of it – if it meant Bill was slipping away.

But when he answered, it was definitely his voice. "There must be some mistake."

Immediately, Oak felt pity for him. Denial was one of the reactions he predicted Bill would have, but he'd hoped the youth was better than deluding himself from the obvious.

"I'm sorry, Bill," he said with a cold edge of seriousness in his voice, "but it's true. You're not human anymore."

Bill looked down at himself. He saw his lap, uncovered and completely metal. He saw the claws, the tail curled around him, the alien feet. His hands gripped his cup, and with shaking motions, he took another sip. The liquid calmed him, but he still couldn't help but feel as if he was on the brink of breaking down.

"How did this happen?" he asked quietly.

Oak shook his head. "We don't know yet. We've run some tests on blood samples we've taken for the past several days with the hope that something there might give us a hint. The results are in my office, but I haven't had a chance to look at them."

Bill stared at the cup. "Do you think that perhaps… it may be joint-evolution?"

"We wish it could be that simple to explain. The process you've undergone took far too long to be considered evolution by itself or joint-evolution, even if XP-494A had that capability."

Bill furrowed his eyebrows again. "Then what…?"

"We're working as hard as we can to find out." Oak lowered his head. "Just be patient, Bill. We'll figure it out."

Bill turned his head to look at Oak. When he spoke next, his voice was trembling with fear. "What do I do now?"

"That's your decision. We're all hoping you'll agree to be studied. After all, we could use the data we'll gather from you to fully understand XP-494."

Oak expected a horrified glare. It was what a number of the other scientists would have most likely done, and he couldn't blame any one of them. To be a test subject, one had to undergo a constant violation of privacy, and that number of scientists – Bill included – were usually very private people.

However, what he got instead was a slightly surprised glance and the opposite end of the spectrum of possible responses.

"Of course." Bill nodded as his voice came across in barely over a whisper. "Until we find a way to change me back, I'm obligated, aren't I? I'm fused to our original subject. I'm… I'm a new pokémon." He said the last three words in an even softer tone, as if he was afraid they would rip apart his tongue on the way out.

At that point, Bill turned a smile towards Oak, but the elder researcher shifted in his seat. Oak noticed a forced element in his colleague's smile – an uncertain glisten in the eyes, the corners of the mouth pulling awkwardly. He sighed, and tried to find something remotely reassuring to say, but given the situation, it was a struggle.

"You're not obligated to do anything," Oak said. It was a lie, given his orders from the Committee, but he felt it was the most humane way to put things.

"Thank you, Professor, but…" He shook his head. "I must." Bill's shoulders relaxed, and he stared into his lap. "I… ah… I will agree, of course under one condition."

Oak lifted his head. "Anything."

"Let me go wherever I could as a member of the scientific team." He looked beyond Oak, to the window. "Out of this room, to my dormitory… I will participate in experiments, but I still wish to work."

For a long moment, Oak stared at his colleague. The glimmer of helplessness he'd seen earlier in the youth's face was already fading, replaced quickly by the determined expression Oak was far more used to seeing.

Oak closed his eyes. "Escorted at all times, and I'll find you a place on the team studying XP-494A."

Bill paused. He wasn't sure he was completely comfortable with the idea of being escorted, but on the other hand, he valued his freedom to come and go as he pleased and his right to knowledge.

"Very well," he said.

Oak opened his eyes. "Then consider it a deal."

The conversation lapsed into silence. Oak eventually began to unwrap his sandwich, reminding Bill of the cup in his hands. Once again, the youth brought it to his lips and drank. This time, he took in more of the liquid and held it in his mouth for a moment. His tongue played with it, tasting its flavors and feeling its viscosity. Something was familiar about it, but he couldn't quite tell what.

"Professor," he said, "what is in this cup?"

Oak had nearly taken a bite of his sandwich when he stopped at the sound of the question. He didn't even have to speculate over what Bill's response to the answer would be. After all, he knew Bill's code of ethics very well. On the other hand, he reminded himself of Bill's talent with finding information. That was what stopped him from lying to the youth in the first place, and that was what stopped him right then.

"Rattata blood, diluted in water," he said.

There wasn't even a moment's beat before the cup flew out of Bill's hands and across the room where it hit the wall, rolled across the table, and fell onto the floor. Bill himself backed against the opposite wall, his claws digging into the mattress until stuffing came out around them. His chest heaved with rapid, deep breaths, and he stared wide-eyed at the fallen cup and the red stain it left across the wall and table.

"_What?_" he gasped. "No! _No!_"

"It wasn't killed for your sake. We just drew enough to sustain you," Oak said as calmly as he could force his voice to be. "We didn't have a choice, Bill. Your digestive system changed just as drastically as your external biology. We tried a feeding tube when it was clear you weren't waking up, but everything we tried to put in you resulted in a violent reaction. The only thing we could come up with was the same thing XP-494A feeds off of. If we didn't resort to blood, you'd have starved to death."

By then, Bill was shaking. Those internal changes. Those deaths he'd experienced. All of his dream flooded back to him with more clarity than he'd had when he first found himself changed.

With it, one image resurfaced with alarming detail.

"Oh no," he whispered. "Oh no. That couldn't have happened."

Oak glanced towards chansey, who stood rigid in the corner of the room. He didn't quite feel the need to call her yet, but he wondered if he would have to.

"What couldn't have happened?" he asked quietly.

Bill put his hands on his head and shook it vigorously for a moment. The image was still there, etched deep into his mind. Slowly, he looked towards Oak.

"The doctor," he said. "That hand…"

Oak paled slightly, then put the tray down on the floor next to him. Gradually, he straightened.

Without even looking at Bill, he said, "You weren't aware of what you were doing."

Bill's eyes widened to an almost impossible degree, and his voice was nearly inaudible. "_It happened?!_"

Oak nodded. "It did. Don't blame yourself, Bill. You weren't yourself."

He said it aloud as if to reassure Bill, but mostly, Oak was attempting to convince himself. This was _Bill_. He was a reasonable human being. A pacifist. He didn't even like pokémon battling, which in itself was mild and involved less violence than cutting off the hand of a surgeon himself. There wasn't any way he would have intentionally done it.

And even then, Oak knew every member of Polaris well, and he valued each one of them as part of a community – an entire body of reasonable people. None of them would do what Bill had done in the operating room, and Oak refused, for that reason, to believe that a member of Polaris deserved to be controlled, sedated, euthanized, or heavily guarded. Bill wasn't himself then, and Oak hoped to every deity he could think of that Bill wasn't about to suffer a relapse.

Glancing at his colleague at last, he found him visibly shaking. Bill had pulled his knees tightly to his chest. His arms were folded over his knees, and his face was half-buried behind them. When he realized Oak was staring at him, Bill turned his head to look away.

"Bill?" Oak asked softly. "Are you…?"

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm _so_ sorry."

Oak extended a hand. "It's all right, Bill."

"How can you possibly say that?!"

Oak leaned back in his chair as he studied his companion carefully. Bill, seemingly unaware of this reaction, buried his face further in his arms and shook with each breath.

"I hurt someone," he whispered. "That was me, and I didn't try to stop it."

"It wasn't you."

This time, Bill looked up in surprise. He'd never heard Oak speak with such sharpness before or stare at something with such an intense glare. A shiver went down Bill's spine.

"It wasn't you," Oak repeated. "I know you, and you know yourself. Would you really intentionally hurt someone else like that? Whatever it was, it wasn't you, and you had no control over what you were doing." He paused, glancing at the bit of red on Bill's chest. "It was some sort of reaction. Maybe a self-defense mechanism XP-494 was trying to use. We were trying to remove it from you, but none of us really thought about what _it_ might try to do. Even if it _was_ part of your body that it used, you had no control over what was going on. You can't blame yourself."

Bill sat there with his mouth slightly open in a dumbfounded expression. Oak looked up, offering a solemn glance. Mentally, he turned the Committee's orders over in his mind, eventually coming to the decision that perhaps accurate results could be sacrificed.

"Regardless of what happened, you're awake and aware now. Whatever happens from now on, Bill, don't let this break you. Remember who you are."

With a vague motion, Bill nodded. He lifted a hand to wipe at his eyes before stopping to examine the claws. Knowing from that what Bill was trying to do, Oak leaned over, pulled a napkin from the tray on the floor, and offered it to his companion. A grateful smile crossed Bill's face as he reached out for it, but before he could touch it, the alarms of the institute screamed to life.

A sharp cry tore from Bill's throat. He covered his ears and flinched, trying to ward off a pounding headache. Oak, meanwhile, hesitated for a moment before glancing at the intern near the door.

"Find out what's going on," he said.

With a nod and a "yes, sir," the intern pulled a remote out of one of his pockets and pressed a button to open the door. Moments later, he passed into the other room.

Oak turned his attention back to Bill. He moved closer and placed his hands on the cool, metal arms with a gentle touch. Bill forced his eyes to open and fix on the elder researcher as he felt his hands being pulled a slight distance away from his ears.

"Are you all right?" Oak asked.

Bill shook his head. "The noise!"

Oak straightened. "What? The noise?"

He received a nod in response. That, he knew, was a bit odd. Bill had heard the alarms before, both during the accident and in periodic drills. Never had he reacted as intensely as the way he did then.

Before Oak could think much more about it, the intern burst back into the room.

"Professor Oak!" he shouted. "You've got to come see this!"

With a concerned glance, Oak turned towards the intern. "What? What is it?"

The intern motioned wildly at the other room. "Out in the hall! There's bodies out there!"

"_What?!_"

Without another question, Oak ran as quickly as he could to the door. The intern turned and darted across the eerily empty room and to the door at the other end. When his elder approached him, the intern opened the door and stood aside to let Oak through. Cautiously, Oak peeked into the hall.

Strewn across the floor every few feet were the bodies. Some of them were slumped against the walls. Others lay curled on the floor. Bodies, both human and the guard growlithe, lay in puddles of blood, their lifeless eyes still staring down the hall, towards other bodies and their own guts scattered and crushed on the linoleum.

Drawing in a breath, Oak straightened and backed out of the door. He could find no words to fit the situation. Luckily, he soon didn't need them. Instead, a roar, halfway between a human scream and the sound of something grinding against a stone, floated down the hallway. Oak felt his body go cold, but he knew he needed to find the source. Polaris was his responsibility. He needed to know what was out there if he wanted to do anything to stop it.

Peeking back out, he was just in time to see a figure turning a corner. It was a hulking creature, taller and wider than himself. Stones covered its skin like the face of a cobblestone street, save for the creature's very human face. Like his young companion, it stood on a pair of three-clawed feet, but each looked as if they were made of jagged rock, rather than sharp, well-defined metal. Its hands were out to its sides, rock claws flexing around garnet palms. On its head, all it had was a cobblestone scalp surrounding a pair of rounded horns. Behind it, a thick, club-like tail rose and smashed into the floor to send cracks lacing across the linoleum beneath it.

Oak froze, half-hidden in the doorway as he silently prayed the creature wouldn't notice him. It lifted its head, nostrils flaring as it smelled the air. Then, it turned its face and, with a pair of dark eyes, looked directly at Oak.

In the next instant, the monster roared and started forward. Oak and the intern jolted away from the door, and the intern slammed it shut and locked it as tightly as he could. Yet, even with that, both he and his superior could only wonder if the door would hold up to rock fists.

Turning away, Oak was prepared to run back into the other room when he saw Bill standing in the doorway. His eyes were wide and scared, and he gripped the doorframe with both hands.

"What's going on?" he rasped.

"Get back inside!" Oak replied. "There's another one!"

Bill straightened. "Another one? Another XP-494B?"

Oak started towards him with a nod. "Yes, and I don't think he's thinking as clearly as you are!"

As if to confirm this guess, the door shook. Another roar rose behind it, and dents appeared on the metal face. The intern backed away slightly, glancing over his shoulder to seek more advice. Oak, meanwhile, was pushing Bill back into the other room as the terrified creature stared with wide eyes back at the intern.

Seconds later, the door burst open on broken locks, swung to the side, and flew off its hinges. Before the intern could turn and look to see the monster on the other side of it, a rock hand grabbed him by the neck and squeezed until there was a crunch. The victim's eyes went wide as blood dribbled out of his mouth, but soon, he couldn't see or feel a thing. As if completely unaware that he'd killed a human being, the creature lifted him to its face and sniffed at the blood. A tongue snaked from its lips and lapped at a corner of the mouth. Then, with a grunt, it threw the body aside and lumbered further into the room.

By then, both Oak and Bill had retreated into the latter's room. Oak stood by the door, angled to allow his colleague to stand behind him, hidden by the wall. The elder's dark eyes peered around the door frame, watching the monster carefully. A mental curse ran through his head as Oak realized the monster stood between himself and his only means of communication with the rest of the complex: the phone on the other side of the laboratory. He tried desperately to piece together a plan. All he had was Nurse Joy's chansey, sitting huddled underneath the window. Glancing back, he looked at her, trembling with her stubby paws over her now-bare head.

That's when he saw Bill leaning forward to glance through the window. With wide eyes, Oak reached out with the intent to pull Bill back, but by then, it was far too late. The monster stared directly at the window, at the side of the face that leaned a little too far out to see it. In response, it reared back, another roar blasting through its throat. Then, with its rocky hands, it moved to the side to pick up one of the large, metal towers of one of the computers. Bill's eyes immediately widened as he realized what was about to happen, but his dodge was far too slow. Seconds after the creature picked the machine up, it sailed through the window and smacked the side of Bill's head with a corner. Twisting around violently, Bill slammed into the ground. His eyes were already closed, and pain throbbed through his skull. He could hear Professor Oak scream his name, but he could do nothing to get up – nothing to stand and defend his elder from the monster that was now shaking the floor in a stampede towards the room. Already, he could feel his thoughts drift away, though he tried to will himself to stay conscious – to get up and stop the thing in the other room.

Yet, on the other hand, even if he did get up, what could he possibly do? They were alike, yes, but the giant was a rock. A rampaging rock. He didn't know anything about his body, nothing that could remotely help him, and he didn't think he could talk sense into something that just sent a computer hurtling through a window at a fellow victim.

As he turned these thoughts over and slipped further into the darkness, a voice entered his mind.

_If you won't get up and fight, I will._

Surprised by the voice, he could do nothing but feel himself get up.

_Don't worry. I won't let you see, but I won't let you die, either._

It tucked him in the back of his own mind, and once again, his body moved on its own.


	5. Four: Sent Adam

Four  
(Therefore, the lords sent Adam from the Garden of Eden.)

Bill awoke first to the sounds of people. At first, he could only hear a murmur of people, but gradually, the voices increased in volume until he realized many of them were either shouts or voices crackling from radios. Something beeped and whined every so often, and hundreds of feet tapped across linoleum.

He flinched. Someone above him seemed to notice this.

"Sir, he's waking up."

The radio crackled. "You have your orders."

"Yes, sir."

Slowly, Bill opened his eyes to find himself staring at a pair of black boots. With steady breaths, he turned his head to look up towards the faces of the four soldiers standing above him. Each one wore the green helmets emblazoned with the national flag – a red leaf on a white background. Every face was pale and expressionless, the eyes blank.

Right about then, he realized each one of them had a rifle. He sat up with a start.

"What's going on?" he murmured.

The soldier directly in front of him was the first to speak. "Adam, by order of the National Defense Forces, you are hereby to be apprehended and quarantined in the Hoenn Region."

"What?!"

Bill scrambled to his feet, and immediately after, he stopped and stumbled backwards. His head swam; the soldiers became fuzzy, blurred images weaving back and forth. Seconds later, the floor came up to meet him again. Around him, the soldiers merely backed away to give him room, but none of them so much as flinched.

"If necessary, we _will_ use force," the first soldier stated. "It is advised you cooperate."

Rubbing his head, Bill squinted as he turned over and supported himself on his opposite hand and knees. Past the legs of the soldiers, he caught sight of a pile of rocks, arranged neatly like the face of a cobblestone street. A slick coat of red covered a few of the stones.

Suddenly, Bill remembered.

"Professor Oak," he murmured. He looked up and over his shoulder. "Professor Oak! Where is he? I need to—"

He stopped short. Turning over, he gasped and tried to back away, but he felt the muzzle of a gun against his back. Unable to go further, he stared with wide eyes at the soldier directly in front of him. In one of her hands was an ultra ball. Its black and white shell gleamed in the lighting of the laboratory.

For the second time since he awoke, Bill scrambled to his feet. This time, although the world wobbled around him, he maintained his balance with a wince.

"What is that?" he demanded. "What are you doing with it?"

The soldier said nothing as she posed herself to throw it.

Opening his eyes, Bill stepped back. "Wait! There must be some mistake!"

"No mistake," the soldier beside him drawled. "We're here to detain the XP-494B known as Codename Adam, on orders of the National Defense Forces."

Bill shot a confused glance towards the second soldier. "Then you _have_ made a mistake! My name is—"

Before he could finish the sentence, he felt something hit his shoulder. A split second later, he saw a flash of red light, followed by nothing at all.

---

Darkness.

There was no sense of time there. It was a space, but it wasn't a place. The black was tangible. The body was not. There were no hands, no feet, no head. Just… black.

Voices. There were voices outside.

Every other moment, Bill had a vague memory of a place outside this darkness, with color and sound. He vaguely remembered being able to touch his hands, to hear his own voice, to smell the air. But those memories felt like another dream, a patchwork of haze and color.

It took him awhile – how long, he couldn't tell – before he realized someone was there with him. The someone came in the form of a presence, something pressing in on his being with a sense of warmth.

_Hello._

He wanted to speak, to address it, but for whatever reason, he felt like he couldn't. The thing intertwined itself with him.

_Why do you not escape?_

His being shifted in response and reached outward to press the walls of the ball. They felt like the rock walls of a planet's heart, with layers upon layers of earth and stone pressing down on him on all sides. A force as strong as gravity pressed him into its center, and for the life of him, he couldn't force himself outward, past the thick layers of the orb and to the outside world. Part of him wondered if he wanted to escape at all. The place was cramped and dark, but it was safe – not the cold unknown beyond its surface.

The presence seemed to read his actions. When it spoke, it had only a disappointed murmur as a response.

_I see._

It was fading away, intending on leaving Bill in the darkness. Desperately, he reached out for it, grasped part of it to keep it from escaping entirely. It came back and brushed him with a warmth.

_Are you certain you wish to have me as your companion? Not many reasonable people would._

Bill twisted his essence around the other mind.

_Very well, then. I will stay with you. Do you know, though, that this cage was not built for more than one creature?_

At once, Bill fell still. The presence wrapped around him.

_How right you are. Just wait, child. It is one of your old sayings that goes, "All good things come to those who wait."_

---

Someone opened the ball, and Bill found himself in a field. The bright lights nearly blinded him, and he winced as he wondered briefly if real pokémon got used to that sudden dash of brightness. Blinking, he felt the dream fade like an old photograph until it was gone completely from his mind. What was he thinking about?

A crack alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone. Looking back, he saw a gardevoir with a band emblazoned with the red leaf of the NDF's logo around one arm and the ultra ball that captured him between her green hands. Her eyes glowed with blue light, and the ball, in its blue aura, split apart until it broke down into dust. Letting go of the tiny cloud of dust, she watched it rain onto the green grass at her feet. Bill stood, uncertain of what to make of the broken ball.

Before he could decide, she turned and started walking south. As she moved further away, a blue glow began to surround her body. It took a moment for Bill to realize what was about to happen.

"Wait! Don't go!"

He started forward, reaching a hand out to grab one of Gardevoir's, but he was a moment too late. Just as he neared her, she vanished, teleporting to parts unknown. Bill's hand closed around empty air.

A shudder of fear ran down his spine, and he looked up to get his bearings. The place was totally unfamiliar to him. It was a field fringed on its northernmost edge by rows of buildings. To the south and east, a sparkling, blue river wound under a bridge and out of sight, beyond a forest that shielded the east and part of the north from view. To the west, there was nothing but another forest.

For a long moment, Bill stood in the middle of the field as his mind scrambled to find a name that matched the place. A breeze blew across his skin, and despite its warmth, he wrapped his arms around himself and realized he felt incredibly naked and vulnerable in the open. Figuring a town was just as good a place as any to begin an investigation, he started trudging northward.

It took awhile for him to realize it was oddly quiet. A few steps away, he stopped and turned. His eyebrows furrowed as he turned this fact over. No birds cried in the forests or overhead. No field pokémon chattered in the tall grass. Not even a water pokémon disturbed the surface of the river. Everything was still. Silent.

Drawing in a breath, Bill tried to run for the town. Several times, he tripped over his own feet or stumbled and crashed into the ground, but his mind was in a whirl of panic. The place was _too_ quiet, _too_ open. Something was definitely wrong there, and he knew it.

The sun was directly overhead when he finally reached the first row of buildings – small, squat structures along the edge of the city. His claws scratched on the cement as he bolted from dirt paths to civilization, and his eyes flicked frantically from building to building in search of some sign.

Eventually, he realized the city was empty too. Slowing to a stop, he looked around himself cautiously. No one was on the streets. Not a single person, not a pokémon, nothing. Panting to catch his breath, Bill felt himself grow cold as he stared at the desolation. Slowly, he walked down the street, peering into windows and down alleys in search of anyone. Once again, he wrapped his arms around himself in growing fear.

Behind him, someone knocked over a garbage can with a loud bang. Bill jumped and turned just in time to watch full garbage bags pour out of an alley he'd just passed. Moving towards it, he peered down the walkway to spot two people running away from him. Gasping at the fact that this was probably his only means of help, he started forward, only to stumble over trash bags. His claws ripped them open easily, and in seconds, Bill was sprawled across the ground with garbage strewn at his feet. Looking up, he saw one of the people hesitating, glancing over her shoulder with blue eyes. Her distinctive, pink loops identified her easily as a Nurse Joy, despite the fact that she wasn't in uniform. She shielded the other person, a child, from view as she stared back at Bill.

Scrambling to his feet, Bill held out a hand. "Wait. Don't run away."

With a sharp cry, Nurse Joy pushed the child forward, launching the two of them into a run. Bill took several steps to follow them, but as they turned a corner and darted out of sight, he stopped.

"It's no use," he murmured to himself.

He lowered his hands and bent his head to examine his own sharp claws. Closing his eyes, he realized the exact problem. He needed a way to look more human, but with nothing but himself – no money, no identification, not even a human appearance to help him – where would he be getting anything remotely worthy for a disguise?

Before he could dwell any further on his own question, a sweet and sour smell floated into his nostrils. Wincing, he shuddered and tried to assume it was merely the garbage. However, soon after he settled on that decision, he heard a shuffle. Jumping slightly in surprise, he whirled around to find himself face-to-face with an Officer Jenny. Before he could get a good look at her, she yelped sharply and swung her arm – one that wielded a nightstick – at his head. The club hit the side of his skull with a crack, and seconds later, he felt himself receding into his mind.

By the time he hit the ground, he was already gone.

---

Cold.

Bill didn't open his eyes, but he awoke with a small gasp, followed by a shiver. A groan rumbled from his throat. His body felt cold, nearly numb.

"—shouldn't jump to conclusions like that. Maybe we can learn something from it."

He squirmed at the sound of the voices. They filtered into his ear as a low murmur at first, but as he returned slowly to consciousness, the voices grew louder until it became a roar of chatter all around him. He clenched his teeth, trying to ignore the voices, but they pounded through his already aching head. Nausea followed soon after. The noise threatened to drown him. It felt stifling, disorienting.

"How can we learn anything from this thing? You've seen what they can do!"

"We can't keep it here! What'll happen if it breaks out?!"

"What if it calls more?! Oh God, what if there's more of them in the city?!"

"We've got to take it to the edge of the city and let it go. That's the only way we can be safe."

"Are you a dumbass or what?! If you let it go at the edge of the city, it'll think we can't fight it and come back to finish us off!"

"Then what do _you_ propose, jackass?!"

"We've gotta kill it!"

Bill groaned again. The noises were too much. His head throbbed with pain, and all he wanted was peace and quiet. He tried to lift a hand to rub his aching skull, but something stopped him. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

"Oh my God, it's awake!"

Immediately, Bill winced. _Oh, please, no…_

Despite his mental prayers, the voices around him rose in a series of screams and shrieks. He winced and shuddered, praying for it to stop as he squirmed. Something clung to his body, limiting his movements and keeping his back against something cold and hard. Eventually, he forced himself to open his eyes just enough to spot a chain wrapped tightly over his front. With a gasp, he pushed himself forward as if in the hope that the chain would break if he pushed it hard enough.

Unfortunately, this seemed to only make the shouting and screaming grow louder. He flinched, unable to bear much more of the noise. Each second it continued, he felt himself slipping, drawing back into his mind, and there, he heard a growl.

"_Stop it!_"

The growl ceased, and the screams and shouts died away. Bill felt the pain in his head recede slowly until his mind could clear. He panted softly as he opened his eyes and looked up. In front of him, he saw crowds of people standing at the foot of the cement pedestal he sat on. Between the crowd and him, he could see the blue back of an Officer Jenny.

"No one is going to be killing this thing unless you want me to book you for animal abuse!" she shouted into the crowd.

Immediately, the chatter resumed. Bill winced and tried to stand, but the chains kept him tight against the slab of granite and bronze at his back, with no room to slide without grinding his back against the raised letters of the monument.

One of the townspeople raised his head. "What're you saying? That we just keep it here and wait for it to break out and kill us all?!"

The crowd shouted in agreement. Officer Jenny turned her head to glance at the entirety of the crowd. Her feet shuffled backwards with uncertainty. Behind her, Bill cringed, bowing his head and bringing his knees close to his face.

"Please stop…" he whispered.

Their voices drowned out his. He felt himself grow dizzier as the sounds assaulted his ears. Closing his eyes, he summoned his strength and his voice.

"Please stop!" he repeated.

His voice sounded sharper than he meant, but it got the effect he wanted. The people fell silent. Opening his eyes, Bill lifted his chin to find the entire crowd staring at him with pale faces. Even the Jenny had to turn her head and gaze in surprise at him over her shoulder.

"Please," he said, softer this time. "Please listen. I-I apologize for disturbing all of you. I don't want to hurt any of you. Believe me."

"He can speak?" one of the townspeople murmured. "Can they all do that?"

"I don't know," one of the other people replied. "They usually don't stop to talk."

"They usually don't stop at all, especially not to be caught," a third added.

Officer Jenny furrowed her eyebrows as she turned to face Bill. She held a nightstick in her hands, but after a moment of thought, she slipped it back onto her belt.

"You can talk, so you'll answer our questions, right?" she asked.

Slowly, Bill nodded. He couldn't imagine why he _wouldn't_.

"Good." Jenny tilted her head. "Let's start with the basics. Why are you here?"

"It was the first place I found," he replied. "I wandered here from the field near here. I apologize if I'm not welcome here. I didn't realize—"

Jenny tilted her head. "You're from there?"

Bill lowered his eyes slightly. "No. I was left there."

"By your kind?"

Jenny's voice was low, and one of her eyebrows raised. Bill looked up, blinking at the sound of the question.

"Well… I suppose you could say that," he said.

A low murmur ran through the crowd. Bill glanced at them, shifting uncomfortably under the metal chains and the sound of their confused voices.

Jenny held up a gloved hand and waited for their silence to speak again.

"Where are they now?" she asked.

Bill pressed himself against the monument. "Who?"

Jenny frowned. "Your kind. The other ixodida!"

"Ixodida?" Bill tried once again to stand. "I… I don't understand. Ixodida?"

The murmur bubbled through the crowd again.

"It doesn't know what it is," one of them rasped. "How can that be?"

Bill flicked his tail, scraping it against the bottom of the pillar. He wasn't used to be called an it, but then again, he couldn't blame them for the confusion anyway.

Jenny ignored the murmuring. She was far too busy studying the captive carefully.

"Ixodida," she repeated. "That's what the people in Littleroot are calling you and the rest of your kind."

Bill's eyes widened as he snapped his gaze towards Jenny. "The rest of my kind? There's more of…?"

"What the hell kind of game are you playing?!" one of the townspeople shouted.

Immediately, Bill cringed at the voice. He looked towards the crowd to see a large man ambling forward. Jenny pulled her nightstick from her belt and brandished it towards the man. That hardly stopped him, and he drew himself just a few inches away from Bill. A meaty hand lashed out, and Bill felt a rough grip close around his metal-and-flesh throat. He gagged as he struggled against both the chain and the hand.

"I don't care if you _are_ a monster," he growled. "We could easily kill you if you don't stop bullshitting with us. Tell us the truth. Are there or aren't there other ixodida in this city?"

Bill's eyes widened as he felt the grip around his neck tighten. Jenny holstered her nightstick and loomed over the man's shoulder. She bent slightly to wrap her gloved hands around his arm.

"Get off, Thompson! Let go! Now!" she shouted.

The man's blue eyes narrowed. "Answer me! Are there other ixodida in this city?!"

Jenny stepped back and drew a gun from a holster at her hip. Her coffee-colored eyes narrowed as she swung her arms upward to point the gun at Thompson.

"Let go! I'm warning you!" she snapped.

Contrary to Bill's own expectations, Thompson completely ignored the police officer. Instead, his other hand followed the first, and soon, Bill found himself unable to breathe. His eyes seared with tears as he gagged and struggled to free his arms in order to fight back, but he could do nothing but stare into the man's face. Eventually, he moved to shake his head, twisting his neck under the large hands.

Suddenly, Thompson yelped and stumbled back, tearing his hands away from Bill's neck. Bill's body spasmed in a coughing fit as he strained to catch his breath. His vision blurred from the tears and his efforts as he lifted his chin enough to observe Thompson. The man knelt at the foot of the pedestal with his hands held in front of him. Screams tore from his throat, and the crowd backed away in horror. Jenny holstered her gun and rushed to his side, peering over the man's shoulder at the deep gashes across his palms.

Panting, Bill sat in shock. He could feel something trickle down the armor along the sides of his neck – something that dripped from the edges of each plate. The scent of blood wafted into his nose, and he squirmed uncomfortably. Around him, the people spoke in hushed whispers. Some clung to one another. Others ran from the scene into the darkness of the city. Jenny lifted her head and scanned the remaining.

"Nurse Joy!" she cried.

A few moments passed before a young woman with her pink hair in loops pushed her way through the crowd. Her loose, green jacket was familiar; Bill had seen it on the woman as she rushed down the alley earlier that day. Behind her, a young girl followed closely but stopped at the edge of the crowd and let go of Joy's pale hand. As the nurse stepped closer to Thompson, the girl stood in plain sight. Bill took one look at her, and instantly, he froze. He knew her – the pale face, the green hair pulled into a pair of tight buns on the sides of her head, everything about her. She was taller than he remembered, but the loose-fitting clothes she wore (black and purple shirt over a pink, long-sleeved shirt; red, knee-length skirt over rainbow tights; black rain boots) made her look small and frail. Around her neck, a small, silver pendant glinted in the lights around the monument. Even that was familiar. He remembered clearly the day he gave it to her.

But the eyes were what drew his attention. He and the girl looked vaguely alike, but it was the eyes people said the two of them shared. Hers were deep, dark brown, and wide – full of water and emotion, like the glimmer of fear she felt then. Those eyes were their father's, their ancestors', hers, and his.

Right then, Bill realized he was holding his breath and let it out in a rush. His body was shaking, and although he was staring directly at the girl, he mentally tried to will away her image, tried to convince himself she wasn't actually there.

His lips and voice moved in a mumble. "R… Ro…"

By then, Joy knelt beside Thompson and took his hands in hers. She bit her lip and listened to his whimpering for a moment as her blue eyes stared deep into the cuts. Then, with a sigh, she stood.

"They'll need stitches," she said. "Come on. If we hurry, we can fix you up in the pokémon center."

With that, she and Jenny stooped to pull Thompson up by his arms. He whimpered again but rose to his feet without much of a resistance. Slowly, Joy turned him and started guiding him back towards the crowd.

"Hopefully, this will teach you not to jump into action so quickly," Joy whispered.

When Joy's back was turned, Bill finally calmed himself. Taking a deep breath, he watched as the girl tore her eyes away from him and stumbled towards Joy quickly.

Before she and the nurse disappeared into the crowd, Bill opened his mouth. His voice followed quickly after, louder than he intended.

"Rosie!"

The girl stopped. The crowd fell silent. Even Nurse Joy had to pause and turn to stare at the creature chained to the monument. Bill struggled to stand up, eventually succeeding in pushing himself into an awkward stoop. He stared at the girl, who gazed back at him with large, frightened eyes.

"Rosie," he murmured. "It's me. Bill."

She turned slightly, but he could see from where he stood that she was trembling. Her eyes filled with tears, and she inched closer to Nurse Joy. Bill could feel his heart drop slightly. He realized she couldn't recognize him.

So, without taking his eyes off her, he added two more words.

"Your brother."

---

Although the NDF troops were still investigating and aiding the rebuilding of the complex, Polaris Institute stood quietly in the darkness of Cinnabar's night. The surviving scientists were recovering in their respective dormitories and the medical wing, and the troops occupied the dormitories of the dead or dismissed. For once, the halls were quiet, unmoving.

In the director's office, one of the few members of Polaris was still awake and working. The computer on the desk hummed quietly, but its monitor was shut off. Its user, Professor Nettle, stood behind the desk, her eyes turned to the screen on the wall behind her. Her hands were folded neatly in front of her, and her face was expressionless as she waited for the Committee's response.

"According to the reports we've received from the NDF," a shadow at the end drawled, "Adam has been transferred to the Hoenn Region. We did not order this."

The leader nodded. "I realize this, but the military has been known to ignore our requests. We could only have hoped we would have had more time before they would realize we had Adam, but the incompetence of the janitorial staff of Polaris Institute have prevented this. Security must be increased, and we expect the staff to be thoroughly analyzed."

Nettled nodded, but she said nothing in response.

"In the meantime," the leader said, "we should hope the device has been installed properly."

Nettle straightened. "I took the liberty of planting the monitoring device sometime after Adam defeated the second XP-494B."

For a long moment, the leader merely listened carefully, nodding as he took in the information. "Is it functional?"

Before Nettle could respond, a shadow at the other end of the line interrupted. "According to the information link between us and Polaris Institute, yes. We've already received a tracking feed that places his location in Mauville City. Additionally, we are currently recording both biological changes and environmental stimuli. Everything he experiences, we will know. It's only a matter of time before we find XP-494's weaknesses and their queen."

Again, the leader nodded. "Very well. Professor Nettle."

She perked up at the sound of her name. This was the moment she was waiting for.

"It is not necessary for you to monitor Adam's movements, but if you wish, establish a team to record the same information we're receiving through this feed," he said.

Nettle nodded. "Does this mean…?"

The leader nodded. "In light of Professor Oak's return to Pallet Town for recovery, we currently have no director for Polaris Institute and can spare no one to send to you. Given the productivity of your particular team – even after the infection of one of its members – we have determined that you are the most capable leader and thus the best candidate. Therefore, we hereby appoint you as director of Polaris Institute."

With a nod, Nettle repressed a smile. "I understand, and I'll do my best to work to your expectations."

"We expect nothing less," the leader responded. "Report to us in a week with your progress."

Before she could respond, the screen went blank. For several moments, Nettle stared at the screen to ensure that the Committee had disconnected. Then, reaching behind her, she tapped a key on the computer's keyboard. At once, the screen flashed on, and on it, the image of a dark-haired man in a tailored, orange suit leaned back in a chair. Dark eyes glared at the screen as a large hand stroked the head of a persian next to him. Nettle turned to face the screen with her posture straightened and stiffened.

"Were you able to hear that conversation, sir?" she asked.

His stern expression broke into a smile that slithered across his face. "Yes. You've done well so far, Professor Nettle."

She bowed. "I aim to please you, sir." She looked at the screen. "I await your next orders."

"Of course." His hand rested on the cat's head. "Once the National Defense Forces withdraw from the institute, you will contact headquarters to have one of our own enter to collect a specimen of XP-494A. In the meantime, half of your team will raise form A. The other half will continue to monitor form B to send information directly to our laboratories."

Nettle bowed. "Yes, sir." She looked up. "If I may ask, wouldn't it have been more convenient to keep Adam in this institution?"

The man shook his head. "From what I understand of your reports, Adam is too human. Perhaps if we test him to his full extent in the wild, we may find a way to break him and control him."

"Test him, sir?"

He nodded. "Yes. There are already agents in Hoenn. They will test him when the time is right. In the meantime, wait to infect another victim. Doing so this soon will attract unwanted attention, but perhaps it would be to our benefit to create another form B to observe the power of a specimen under our control. Understood?"

Nettle bowed again. "Yes, sir."

"Very well." His hand moved across the purring cat's head once more. "Get to work, Professor Nettle. The glory of Team Rocket relies on your findings."

"Yes, sir."

With that, the image of the man vanished with a click, and the normal desktop returned. Nettle closed her eyes for a moment before reaching to the keyboard to tap a key. The screen went blank at her command, and she opened her eyes to glance at it for a moment. Then, without a word, she walked to the door, opened it, and passed into the darkness of the hallway beyond it. Even in the middle of the night, she had work to do.


	6. Five: Trust Me

Five  
(Trust me.)

In many places, no lights shone. The street lamps flickered or failed to light at all, and the buildings were completely dark. Overhead, the nearly full moon provided most of the light, with the rest coming from the lights at the base of the monument. Otherwise, the city was dark and still. It was late, but how late, Bill couldn't tell.

The crowd left soon after Thompson was guided away. None of them wanted to face the creature chained to the monument, so one by one, they filtered away until only Jenny was left, standing guard in front of the memorial. Even she could hardly count; every attempt to strike up a conversation resulted in awkward silence.

Although he awoke hours ago, Bill found that he had no chance to fall asleep. The night air felt cold, and the position he was in – sitting again, on a slab of hard stone and metal – was far too uncomfortable to let him doze. A dull ache radiated from his lower back, but he did his best to ignore it. Instead, he sat awake with his eyes on Jenny's back.

He opened his mouth for the umpteenth time. For a moment, he tried to think of something to say, but realizing he'd receive no response, he closed it again and sighed. Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep, though he knew no matter what he did, he most likely wouldn't get a minute of it.

A quick tapping filtered into his ears. Opening his eyes, he lifted his head slowly to see a pair of shadows moving quickly towards the monument. Jenny tensed, her gloved hand drifting towards the gun at her hip.

"It's okay," Nurse Joy called as she drew closer.

Jenny relaxed. "What're you doing here? It's late." She paused, glancing at the smaller shadow walking beside Joy. "Shouldn't she be in bed?"

"She followed me out," Joy replied. "Besides, I can't leave her alone in the center."

The two came into the light. Bill craned his neck to gaze around Jenny and study the girl's face again. She refused to look at him. Instead, she held Nurse Joy's hand and stared into the darkness to the side.

"How's Thompson?" Jenny asked.

Joy sighed. "Stitches in both hands. The cuts were nearly to the bone, but we treated him quickly enough. He should be fine." She glanced around Jenny to Bill. "I can't blame it, though. It didn't do anything wrong. Mr. Thompson was the one who was threatening it… It was only trying to defend itself."

Bill stiffened. His face felt hot, and he clenched his teeth in response to the way she spoke about him. Mustering up his voice, he responded before Jenny could.

"I have a gender," he murmured. "I'm not an it."

Joy jumped as her blue eyes widened. Jenny glanced over her shoulder while her friend stepped forward cautiously.

"I'm sorry," the nurse said. "Don't be offended."

Bill watched her approach. She carried a plastic box in one hand. Tilting his head, he watched her kneel beside him and undo the latch.

"I didn't mean to. I didn't know I could hurt someone like that," he whispered.

Joy looked up sharply. "What do you mean you didn't know?"

Bill shook his head. "I haven't been like this all my life. In fact, I've only been like this for only a day, if we don't count the time that I've been unconscious. I don't know much about… my situation."

Joy rested her hands on the cooler. Jenny turned completely to face him, and the little girl crept closer to the police officer. Bill glanced at all three and shifted uncomfortably.

"Why is that so shocking?" he asked.

Joy tilted her head. "What's your name?"

Bill sighed. "My name is Bill. I'm a pokémon researcher from Kanto, and I—"

"Kanto?" Jenny asked.

Joy and Jenny exchanged glances. Bill noticed and struggled to stand again. He winced as the letters on the monument scraped against his back to produce a high-pitched screech, but otherwise, he did his best to keep it from preventing him from answering.

"Yes," he said. "I was taken from there today."

Jenny raised her eyebrows. "The epidemic's spread to Kanto?"

Hesitating for a moment, Bill cast his glance to the side and frowned. "No. Not exactly. It's… it's a long story."

The women were silent for a long while. Bill lifted his head, glancing at each of them cautiously. He couldn't tell if they believed him. For that reason, he shifted uncomfortably, feeling the chains against his body.

"Why is this necessary?" he asked, almost absentmindedly as he stared at the chains. "I promise you, I won't hurt any of you."

Joy looked up, offering a sad glance. "I'm sorry, but it's a precaution. We don't know…"

When Joy trailed off, Bill furrowed his eyebrows. "You don't know what?"

"What you'll do," Jenny said.

Bill looked up, glancing at Jenny's face. Her expression wasn't as hard and cold as he expected. Instead, it was distant, almost forlorn.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Joy frowned. "This is Mauville City, the very heart of the Hoenn Region. In order to go south to Slateport, west to Fortree and Lilycove – essentially anywhere – you'd have to pass through here. Unfortunately, because of that, we don't have protection against outside forces. Or, at least, we don't have protection that's as strong as we need."

Inside, Bill began to feel cold. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Joy replied with a nod. "But… that's not all. Sometimes, we get ixodida here. Not all of them come to the city, and the little parasites avoid us altogether. There's not enough food for them in the cities, but they still come because we block their way to the fields to the east and west." She looked at him. "Every time they've come here, they've destroyed part of the city."

"They take some of us to be infected, and the ones that they capture but can't use, they kill off," Jenny continued. "There's less than thirty of us left because of that."

Her voice was flat. Monotone. Although what she said was chilling enough, the tone was what sent a shiver down Bill's spine.

He forced himself to speak, but his voice barely rose above a whisper. "I didn't realize… but I… I promise you I won't."

Jenny stared at him with her coffee-colored eyes. She said nothing in response, and Bill couldn't quite read her expression to tell what she was thinking. In the meantime, Joy drew a plastic pouch from the cooler. At a glance, Bill took it to be a hot water bottle from the shape until Joy unscrewed the cap at the top. Right after, Bill caught scent of a familiar odor – the same one he detected from the cup Oak had given him a day ago. Pressing himself against the monument, he trembled.

"What is that?" he whispered.

Joy approached him, offering the bottle. "Donated blood. It's okay. We have too few pokémon in the city to need what we have. If we keep it, the other ixodida might find it."

Bill cringed and turned his head away. "I… I can't accept that."

Withdrawing slightly, Joy tilted her head. "It's okay. Really. As ironic as it sounds, it's not helping anyone. If the ixodida knew we had this much because we can't use it—"

"It's not that," Bill said. His voice rose a notch, and as soon as he realized it had, he hesitated and blushed. Then, looking away, he spoke in a softer tone. "I-I just can't drink pokémon blood, donated or otherwise." He closed his eyes. "I can't."

Joy's shoulders fell as she frowned slightly. "Why not?"

"Because pokémon are my life!" Bill hissed. "Drinking the blood that came from one – even without considering that I'm taking blood that could be used to help another one – I…" He shook his head. "I can't. It's pokémon blood."

By then, he was shaking. The chains clicked against him as he tried to keep the others from seeing his face. He knew he shouldn't have been breaking down, that he should have been slightly stronger and calmer, but he couldn't resist the flood of emotions. On one level, he felt disgust and anger – towards what, he couldn't quite define. Beneath that, however, was the unshakable feeling of fear. He was terrified of what he was, what it meant, and what might happen to him in the future.

Jenny furrowed her eyebrows at this display. "If you don't feed, you'll die. If you die, the parasite will lay eggs in your body, and—"

"Officer Jenny!" Joy snapped as she threw a glare at the other woman.

At once, Jenny recoiled and looked away. "Sorry."

Joy didn't respond. Instead, her expression softened, and she turned her glance back to Bill. She was hardly surprised to find him staring wide-eyed at the two of them, but it was slightly more of a surprise to her to find tears trickling down his cheeks. Studying his face carefully, she couldn't help but offer a reassuring smile.

"She's right, though," she said. "You need to drink – if not for us, for yourself." She stopped to screw the cap back on the bottle. "Let's make a deal. If you agree to drink this, we'll take the chains off."

Jenny turned a sharp glance towards her. "What?!"

Ignoring her, Joy continued. "Just think of it as tomato soup. It'll be okay. I promise. What do you say?"

Bill's eyes fell on the bottle again. He bit his lip as he turned over his options. The scent of the blood still hung on his nose, and he couldn't ignore the feeling of hunger. Already, he felt weak as he shifted slightly and hung his head.

"Okay," he whispered.

Joy glanced at Jenny, who hesitated on the spot.

"You can't be serious about this," she said.

"Of course I am," Joy responded. "Look at him."

Jenny looked. All she saw was a trembling creature, something she would compare to a kicked puppy if the rest of the ixodida race was a pack of mightyena. She narrowed her eyes, looking for any sign that this could have been a trick. Instead, she found drying tears.

With a frown, she shook her head.

"No. No! I don't care what you say, Nurse Joy. That thing can kill off the rest of us if we let it go."

Joy shook her head and reached a pale hand towards Jenny's arm. "Officer Jenny, please! Just listen to him! He sounds human! We can't do this to him! Besides…" She looked back at Bill. "He didn't attack Rose and me when he had a chance. In that alley. Remember?"

Jenny jolted and stared at Joy. She was caught off guard by Joy's comment, but she couldn't argue against that point.

With a sigh, she unclipped a set of keys from her waist and walked around to the back of the monument. Bill twisted, trying to keep an eye on her until he lost sight of her completely. A few moments later, he heard her footsteps stop somewhere behind him, followed by a jingle and a click. Immediately, the chains fell to the ground with a clatter. Bill exhaled in relief and rubbed his arms.

Joy smiled and held out the bottle for him, but before it could be passed between them, a sharp shriek came from the throat of the previously quiet Rose. With a small cry of her own, Joy jolted as she felt Rose's hands pull on the back of her coat. The small girl had buried her face in the cloth and refused to look up as Joy tried to turn to face her.

"Oh! Rose!" she breathed. "No, no. Don't worry. Look at me."

The girl shook her head vigorously. With a sigh, Joy handed the bottle to Bill and turned completely around to place both hands on her shoulders. Jenny stormed to the front of the monument just in time to see Bill stumbling back against it.

"What's going on?!" Jenny demanded.

"It's Rose," Joy said with a sigh.

For a moment, Bill stared at Joy and Rose with a tilted head. The woman bent over the girl, who slumped to her knees with a shaking sob. Rose's arms were wrapped around Joy's legs, and her face was obscured by Joy's body. Jenny stepped back and crossed her arms.

"Poor kid," she muttered.

Bill glanced at her with a startled expression. This child was certainly not the amiable little girl he remembered. She was a mouse, a trembling, traumatized little girl, and it was obvious to him she wouldn't have lasted on her own, what with the way she clung to Joy and demanded her comfort.

"How did she come here?" he murmured.

Jenny shrugged. "She's a coordinator, from what we can tell. We found the Verdanturf Ribbon and a couple of pokémon with her. She must've been between here and there when the epidemic started, though. Probably thought she could've taken care of herself. Couldn't tell you how long she's been out there, but we found her on the outskirts in the southwest about a month ago. Joy's been looking after her ever since." She glared at him. "Aren't you going to drink that?"

At once, Bill's eyes fell on the bottle, and for a long moment, he stared at it as Rose's whimpering quieted down. Part of him had no desire to even touch the contents of the bottle. The other, stronger feeling told him he didn't have much of a choice. With a trembling hand, he brought the bottle to his lips. The aroma of blood dispersed through the air, and he felt something warm enter his chest. Swallowing hard, he took the first sip, shuddered, and brought his eyes back to Joy, who was murmuring something to Rose in a hushed tone. Already, questions formed in his mind about the presence of the girl.

"Why hasn't anyone evacuated?" he asked.

"_Quarantine_," Jenny snapped. "We _can't_. No one goes in, and no one goes out. No one except the NDF. And you, apparently, but I doubt you'll be getting back _out_."

"Oh."

Bill looked at the ground. He listened to Rose's whimpering and Joy's hushed whisper for a moment, and all of a sudden, a rush of guilt flooded him. Clenching his teeth, he walked around the other side of the memorial. An instant later, he heard Jenny's feet rap against the cement.

"Where do you think you're going?" she hissed.

"Perhaps I should be somewhere she can't see me," Bill replied. "Behind here. That's all."

He moved to place the monument between himself and Joy. Jenny continued to follow him, but her footsteps grew softer. When the two of them were on the other side, Bill took another drink. He refused to look at Jenny for fear he'd meet just another glare.

"What did you mean, 'your brother'?" she asked.

Blinking, he looked at Jenny cautiously from the corner of his eye. "What?"

"Earlier tonight," she said as she crossed her arms again. "What did you mean when you said you're Rose's brother?"

Bill tilted his head again. "I meant it literally."

Jenny quirked an eyebrow. "Literally?"

He swallowed another sip. "Well, yes. I don't know how to explain it other than that. We have the same parents, the same surname, we even have some remote family resemblance…"

"Is that so?" Jenny's voice dripped with skepticism.

Bill sighed and looked at her. "Yes. Is it such a surprise to you that I have a family?"

"In a nutshell, yeah," Jenny replied.

"Why?"

Jenny frowned. For a long moment, she could only pause and look at the stranger, standing next to her with a bottle in his claws. The only real semblance of humanity in him was his face; the scales stopped at the sides of the neck to leave the head almost untouched save for the horns, the wire hair, and the fangs. Other than that, he was, in her eyes, every way a monster.

Sighing, Bill opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, he was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. Looking up, he remained still. Jenny had her gun in her hand the instant she heard the noise, and already, she was moving around to the other side of the monument. Bill followed a beat later, stumbling around the monument until something else followed the blast.

A pair of screams rose into the air. Bill froze, a shiver running down his spine as he listened to them. For several seconds, the high-pitched shrieks filled the hush of the streets before dying down into silence. A cold feeling crept into Bill's heart. It felt familiar to him, though he knew it wasn't human. Worse off, he almost felt compelled to _answer_. Once he realized that, he let the bottle slip through his hands, and he scrambled the last few steps around to the front of the monument.

There, he found Jenny standing with her gun pointed towards the buildings straight ahead of her. Next to her, Joy stood with her wide, blue eyes on the buildings and Rose wrapped tightly in her arms.

"What is that?" Bill whispered.

Joy gasped in surprise, followed shortly by Rose's whimper. Jenny glanced at him through the corner of her eye.

"Don't you know?" she asked. "That's what a pair of ixodida sound like."

Bill stiffened. His breathing quickened as he felt his heart beat with panic.

"Ixodida?" he gasped.

"You didn't bring them here, did you?" Jenny hissed.

"Officer Jenny!" Joy snapped. "Now isn't the time for this! We need to get inside!"

Jenny frowned. "With this thing? We don't even know if he has something to do with them!"

"I didn't," Bill said. "Honestly. I would never—"

"Please!" Joy turned her head sharply towards the both of them. "We need shelter before they come!"

Immediately, Bill cringed, then relaxed. He glanced at Jenny with a small frown.

"She's right," he said. "If they _are_ as dangerous as you claim, then we can't be in the open."

Jenny narrowed her eyes. "Where do we go, then?"

"The pokémon center isn't too far from here," Joy replied. "We can go there."

Relaxing her aim slightly, Jenny glanced from the nurse to the stranger and back. She considered the idea for a bit until another crash rose from not far away. Then, she holstered her weapon and glared at her three charges.

"Fine," she said. "Let's go."

---

The city seemed darker when the group reached the center. Somewhere along the way, the power had been cut, leaving the streets in utter darkness. No stars appeared overhead, and shadows loomed between each building. The air hung cold around them as they approached the small building, its face unlit in the lack of electricity.

Although neither of them could see their way, Jenny and Joy knew the city well enough to walk the way from the monument to the center blindfolded. Hence, the women huddled around the girl, hurrying her to the pokémon center with no light and minds full of wariness and fear for the possibility that an ixodida would appear from the darkness at any moment.

Bill, meanwhile, was preoccupied with yet another new discovery. He followed the women a short distance away, but his eyes drifted to the world around him. Although he knew it was quite possibly pitch black, he could see the way as if the streetlamps were still on. Everything appeared in monochrome, but the details were still sharp and vivid. Brick walls, garbage cans, even the cracks in the cement – he could see everything.

Taking a shaking breath, he nearly walked completely past the group when they stopped. Jolting to a halt, he glanced at the façade of the building: the metal P on the round sign above the door, the glass windows in the brick face, even a few chairs and tables just beyond the window.

"The power may be out," Joy said. "The doors won't—"

Before she could finish, she approached the door. She lifted a hand, fully intending on resting it on glass. Instead, it passed through to the interior easily. Drawing in a breath, she glanced at her companions worriedly. Behind her, the three shadows stopped and said nothing.

Cautiously, she turned and stepped through the hole and into the center. Her shoes crunched against broken glass with each step she took further inside.

"Nurse Joy!" Jenny hissed. "Get back here!"

Joy continued into the darkness, completely ignoring Jenny's warning. Jenny kept her hands on Rose as the girl cringed against the officer. Bill glanced at the both of them and then at Joy's back, drifting further into the darkness. With a deep breath, he followed her inside. It was either that or stand in the open, and even beyond that, he hardly wanted her to be alone. His eyes fixed straight ahead, at the reception desk at the opposite end of the room and the door to another room behind it.

He took no more than four steps into the room, across the broken glass, when he realized something was wrong. The air inside the building was heavy with the bitter scent of ammonia, but overpowering that was a scent that was already familiar to him by then.

"Blood," he whispered.

Joy turned her head. "What?"

He glanced at her. "I can smell blood. It's straight ahead."

She hesitated for a moment, then walked back towards the door. "Let me turn on the lights."

Whirling around, he faced her. "Don't. Something may be here."

Stopping halfway to the wall, she turned and looked at him. He could see her wide eyes, her curious expression as she studied him.

"Whose blood is it?" she asked.

Pausing, Bill closed his eyes. He drew in another breath through his nose, and with that breath came not only the scent of ammonia and blood but also something else. Something familiar. Turning, he followed the scent to its source, behind the desk. Without a word, he worked his way around it until he felt something slippery beneath his feet. Opening his eyes, he glanced at the object on the ground, and immediately, he froze.

At his feet, he could see the black-and-white image of a chansey. Rather, he could see what was _left_ of a chansey. Her face was frozen in an expression of terror, staring at the ceiling with unseeing eyes. The egg in her pouch was smashed, coating half her body and her fine, pink fur with a slick, whitish film. All over her body, chunks of flesh were partly ripped out, but very little blood save for a few drops around her body remained. Otherwise, she was drained. Her skin puckered with lack of moisture, and the exposed muscles, even for monochrome vision, appeared oddly pale.

Drawing in a gasp, Bill stumbled backwards. His chest heaved in a pant, but he couldn't tear his wide eyes away from the dead chansey. Although Joy couldn't see him, she could hear the scuffle of his claws against the hard floor and his gasps. With a frown, she stepped forward, closer to the desk.

"Bill?" she asked. "Who is it?"

Turning his eyes towards Joy, he took a deep breath and prepared to choke out a response. Before he could, something else caught his eye. Behind Joy, a creature stalked forward. She looked almost human with the face of a young woman. Besides that, she appeared to be covered in spikes, spines jutting out of every bare patch of skin except her face. Her horns jutted out of her head, surrounded by long spines that rose slightly as she drew closer. Behind her, a tail, tipped with a stinger dripping with poison, swayed with each step.

Immediately, Bill reacted before he thought about it.

"Run!" he screamed as he darted forward.

Immediately, the other ixodida leapt towards Joy with fangs bared and a hiss ripping from her throat. One clawed hand drew back and took on an eerie, purple glow. Joy turned her head when the room lit up with the attack, and when her blue eyes fell on the face, she instantly shrieked. The noise caused Bill to stumble into a flinch. In the corner of his eye, he saw Joy turn away and the hand lash towards her. The claws slashed across her shoulder, spraying drops of blood onto the floor as poison leaked into the wound.

Joy fell. Bill twisted himself, lashing an arm outward to grab the wounded nurse. Kneeling, he stared with wide eyes towards the other ixodida, who stooped and hissed as her arms swung beneath her.

"Please," he whispered. "Please, if you and I are the same… Please, you must…"

_She can't hear you._

Bill froze at the sound of the voice. He felt a warmth and someone's stare, as if he was being watched from the inside.

_Its host is asleep. She can do nothing to fight against it._

As if to prove the voice right, the other ixodida lashed out, one of her clawed hands swinging towards Joy's crumpled body. Joy flinched, ready to take a fatal blow, when on instinct, she heard the screech of nails on metal. Glancing up, she saw Bill blocking the creature's strike with his arm. He clenched his teeth, feeling the claws dent his armor and the poison roll harmlessly off his skin. Before he could pull away, however, the hand flicked to curl around his arm as the female's eyes narrowed into a glare.

Before he could do anything else, he found himself sailing through the air, only to come crashing down across the room and skidding into a wall. He hadn't even felt the female throw him. Shaking his head, he forced himself to his hands and knees and glanced towards Joy. The ixodida stood over her with quills rising in preparation. He could hear Joy's soft cries, the quiet sobbing of pain. Slowly, the ixodida lifted a hand above her head, spreading her claws as each one took on another purple glow.

With a bang, a bullet took out two of the glowing claws. The ixodida shrieked and whipped her hand downward to hold it in front of her with her other hand. Turning her head, she narrowed her eyes angrily at the door. Bill followed her glance to see Officer Jenny standing in the doorway with a gun pointed towards the purple glow.

_She can't see her enemy._

Bill stood cautiously as he listened carefully to the voice. His heart felt like it was clenching, and he couldn't decide if that was because of the parasite or because he knew the voice was right.

_She will be killed._

"Killed?" Bill whispered.

_Yes. So will the others._

The ixodida growled and turned. Her wounded hand dripped black blood as she held it out to her side, and her good hand spread its claws as she held it in a similar position. Her back hunched, and she crept closer to Jenny, who simply stood in the doorway, unaware of the approaching threat.

_You must move. You must move, or they will die._

Bill's voice caught in his throat. He opened his mouth, but his voice came out as nothing more than a hoarse whisper.

"Officer Jenny…"

The voice in his head didn't seem amused.

_You must fight if you wish to save them._

Bill shook his head and trembled. The claws of his right hand flexed, spreading as the jewel in the palm began to glow with a silver color. Glancing down at it, he realized in horror that he could no longer feel it – or, rather, that he could, but it felt foreign, like it was no longer his hand. The numb sensation ran up his arm and spread to the rest of his body like an electric current until he could feel nothing at all. He felt his mind being pulled back, and though he could watch himself, he knew he was slipping to the darkness.

_You will watch, then, and _I_ will fight._

_No. No! Please, let me go!_

The ixodida lunged towards Officer Jenny. At once, Bill's body launched forward, running in a dash towards the ixodida. He missed most of her, but his hands wrapped around her long tail. Jenny stumbled backwards as a gasp of shock caught in her throat at the sight of the ixodida's claws swinging towards her face but missing by just a short distance.

Instead, the female was flung through the air by her tail, back into the darkness of the center. Releasing her, Bill's partner let her fly through the air and slam into the floor. A shriek tore from her throat before she crashed, and the sound lingered long after the shock of impact as the ixodida rose to her feet. Lifting her arms in front of her face, she forced the quills running from her wrists to her elbows to rise.

In the meantime, Bill watched his hands spread again. The parasite pulled energy from his body, and he felt an electric sensation running down his arms. His claws took on a bright, silver glow just as the quills on the other ixodida turned white. Before he could react, pins shot from the female's arms.

Bill knew that had he been in control, the pins would have struck him in the face. For that reason, he couldn't quite decide whether or not it was a blessing he wasn't. He could only stare in a mixture of wonder and horror as his body acted on its own, flicking its glowing hands in front of him. The pins ricocheted off his claws with metallic pinks as he raced forward, closer to the female.

With a gasp, the female realized her target had deflected her attack. Flinging her arms to the sides, she channeled her energy once again until her claws took on a purple glow. She swung her poison-tipped claws upward, slashing Bill's face. Bill could feel the claws, the sting of sharpness ripping across his cheek and the warm blood trickling down to the corner of his lips. His body turned away with a hiss as his claws gently rose to touch the blood and the venom running down the side of his face.

The female seemed indifferent to the wounds of her opponent. Raising her right hand again, she bared her teeth as her claws took on a purple glow once more. A growl rumbled from Bill's throat as another electric sensation ran down his spine. His body crouched as his tail stiffened behind him. At once, he recognized the attack.

_Iron Tail. Metal Claw. I can… I can attack like a pokémon?_

Inside, he heard a chuckle. _No. But I can._

Bill's body sprang into the air and twisted. A scream blasted from his throat, and at once, his mind froze. The sound possessed an unsettling quality, like the howl of an animal. He had a strange feeling about what was about to happen, but he could do nothing to stop it.

His opponent reached forward with her glowing claws to deflect the attack, but like a blade, his tail sliced cleanly through her hands. The arrowhead tip, meanwhile, cut halfway into her skull, gliding through the thick bone and soft tissue underneath.

She didn't even scream. Instead, she merely slumped onto the linoleum, blood pouring out of her half-cut head. Bill's body landed with a clatter onto the tiled floor. Immediately, he dropped to his hands and knees and crept closer. His tongue ran across the top row of his sharp teeth as his heart began to beat faster at the scent of blood.

_What are you doing?_ he thought. _She's dead!_

_She may be, but there's something else here that isn't._

Bill's hands flipped the body onto its back. Claws drifted up the smooth arms – first the left one and then the right one. Red light pulsed quietly on the right arm, just before the arm met the shoulder. It bulged out of the side, and for a moment, Bill couldn't recall why he'd missed it before.

The hand stopped on it. Bill could feel its smoothness as he watched his hand spread over it.

_What are you doing?_ he asked.

The other voice didn't answer. Instead, he let Bill watch.

Claws dug into the flesh of the shoulder and pierced through the mesh of tentacles at the base of the female's parasite. Then, with a quick yank, Bill's hand wrenched the parasite from the shoulder. The tiny beast screeched as its upper body was severed from its legs and mouth, and from its bulbous form, glowing, green fluid splattered onto the wound.

_What are you doing?!_

His body brought the thing to his mouth. It was still alive, and it flashed with an angry, red light as the remnants of tentacles at the base of its body thrashed. A grin spread across his mouth, flashing white fangs just before his jaws parted.

Only when he bit the thing in half did it stop screaming.

_WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!_

Ignoring him completely, his body devoured the rest of the parasite. He could taste the blood and acid on his tongue. He could feel his teeth crunching on the hard shell. He could detect it dissolve into a warm liquid that trickled down his throat. All the while, his mind was blanking.

_OhnoohnoohnowhatamIdoing?!_

_Relax. It's the only way we can be sure._

Only when the last of the parasite was gone, his body stood, towering over the dead female. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the wound.

For a long moment, there was only silence. Bill mentally whimpered, but his body made no audible sound. Instead, it turned its head towards first the door behind the counter, then the one leading to the street. There, Rose stood, trembling in the doorway – and, even worse, alone.

_Rosie. What is she doing here?_

Suddenly, the room flooded with light. Bill's body flinched and hissed before shielding his eyes with an arm. His lips curled back in a snarl as his tail twitched in aggravation over the sudden blindness. Squinting, he saw Officer Jenny, pale-faced and still with a gloved hand still on the light switch a short distance from the front door. Her brown eyes widened at the sight of not only Bill's blood-stained claws and face but also the two bodies – one of the ixodida and the other of Nurse Joy – lying oddly still between them.

"What did you do?" she whispered.

Inside, Bill recoiled. _I didn't mean to! This isn't me!_

His body turned to face Jenny. Her hand trembled, but she stood stiffly where she was. For a moment, Bill thought it was because of the sight of him, but then, he heard a low growl rumble behind him. Whirling around, his body faced another figure creeping behind him. He could only get a glimpse of a second quill-covered creature before glowing, purple claws smashed into the side of his head. His body stumbled to the side and crashed to the floor as his vision blurred in a dazed haze.

Growling, Bill's body slowly flipped onto his stomach and twisted to look at his opponent. His vision resolved, and he saw towering above him the other ixodida. This one, he'd determined, was male, judging by the lack of female curves. He otherwise looked remarkably like the female, with purple skin and purple quills with toxic-green tips running up his back, arms, and scalp.

The other ixodida raised his arms, and the quills stood on end. Moments later, the quills took on an eerie, white glow, all-too similar to one of the female's attacks. Yet, this one wasn't aimed at Bill.

His body glanced at Officer Jenny, directly in the path of the male's Poison Sting attack. Her gloved hands reached towards the gun at her hip, and she crouched to aim. Glancing from her to the male, Bill's body sprang to his feet. Although Bill wasn't the one coming up with a plan for attack, he could sense the parasite forming one for him. It forced his body to dart between the human and the ixodida, with his back towards the male's Poison Sting. Seemingly unaware of this new barrier, the male fired, and the quills shot spurts of energy in the form of venomous needles. Each one struck Bill's armored back and ricocheted backwards, onto the tiled floor.

A roar erupted behind him as Bill's hand reached downward and prepared another Metal Claw attack. Energy began to flow into his claws, but before he could focus his attack, the male seized his arm and yanked him off his feet. Without letting Bill resist, the other ixodida sent him flying through the air and hard into the wall behind him. Seconds later, he was on the floor, and his vision blurred and spun as his head, which he was sure had struck the wall, throbbed with an intense ache. The warmth and electric sensations receded, and numbly, Bill realized he could move his hands by himself again.

In the meantime, the male turned towards Officer Jenny again, but before he could launch another attack, three gunshots rang out. Blood splattered from the male's forehead, and he flinched and stumbled backwards for a few steps. Seconds later, he collapsed onto the floor next to his mate. The pool of blood around them spread.

Bill felt himself fading. He squinted, trying to force his blurred vision to focus. Eventually, he realized he was losing his sense of time. One moment, Jenny was on the other side of the room, and the next she was kneeling next to Nurse Joy. She seemed to spend an eternity by the nurse's side, but as soon as Bill blinked, she moved to his. A hand rested on his shoulder before drifting to the back of his head.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Her voice sounded distant, like it was at the other end of a long and empty hallway.

His lips moved. A second later, he forced his voice from his throat in a low whisper.

"Rosie…"

He closed his eyes, and a moment later, he fell into the darkness.

---

In a different kind of darkness, the Committee convened. The leader at the center, First, cleared his throat. To his right and left were Second and Third, respectively, and at the ends sat Fourth and Fifth. All of them studied the papers on the table in front of them as they waited for someone to begin.

"We've just now collected new data from Adam," Second finally said. "His power is not the strongest we've ever recorded."

"Likewise," Third added, "his mind seems to be severed from the parasite's."

Fifth nodded. "How curious. He's nothing like anything else we've recorded."

On the right end, Fourth shook her head. "It's a shame the National Defense Forces insisted on his quarantine. We can't use him, and it's far too late to remove the device and choose a new subject. If only we had been a bit more discreet about his presence. He would be far more useful in the Institute where we can study XP-494's physiological arsenal."

Second glanced at Fourth. "Perhaps, but we find that this second personality in Adam renders him far too dangerous for captivity. Both personalities controlling that body leave him unpredictable. We couldn't possibly keep him with our scientists. If we attempt to control the alien in him, we become inhumane to his human self. If we treat his human self as an equal, we risk leaving our scientists vulnerable to his alien side. It's a blessing that the NDF intervened."

"Then what should we do?" Third asked.

First straightened. "We leave him in Hoenn. We have already obtained fascinating information from him. He can provide us with more, regardless of inaccuracies regarding his psychological state."

"I agree," Fifth replied. "Besides, this turn of events may allow us to see XP-494 at its full potential."

First nodded. "Perhaps."


	7. Six: Affable Archangel

Six  
(The affable Archangel had forewarned Adam to beware.)

The odd thing, as Bill found out, about having metal as skin was that it changed so frequently according to temperature. At night, he felt the water in the air condense and leave tiny droplets on his cold armor. Now, which could only have been the day, he could feel the scorching heat of the plates exposed to the sun. It felt somewhat uncomfortable to be so hot after being so cold, yet he was numbly aware it felt almost natural.

Opening a dark eye halfway, Bill realized first that he was lying stomach-down on the cement. His entire body felt heavy, and for that reason, the ground felt oddly comfortable in comparison. Squinting, he dragged a hand next to his face to feel the pavement in wonder.

"You're awake," Jenny said. "Good. That makes this easier."

Bill turned his head slightly to glance at Jenny's knees beside him. She was bent over him, fiddling with something at the back of his neck. Behind her, he could see the legs of his sister. He tried to crane his neck to get a better look of her, but Jenny placed a firm hand on the side of his head.

"Hold still," she said. "I've got to get this off you before they come back."

He closed his eyes and shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

"They put a collar on you," Jenny explained. "You're chained to the city square again. I tried to convince them it's not necessary, but after what happened at the pokémon center…"

Her voice trailed off, and Bill froze. A jolt of pain rushed through his head as a flood of memories came back to him. He recalled the image of the dead female, the male towering over him, Joy on the floor…

"Nurse Joy," he whispered.

Jenny stopped. "She's dead. Poison."

Her voice sounded strained. The words she used felt foreign to Bill, yet he understood on a very distant level. Turning his head, he rested his chin on the cement. He felt Jenny's gloved hands touch the back of his neck and fiddle with the band around his neck, something he was conscious of for the first time since he woke up. The images continued to burn through his mind, but now, he felt numb about them, as if they weren't his memories. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply for awhile as his skull throbbed.

"My head hurts," he murmured.

Jenny frowned. "I wouldn't be surprised. You slammed into a wall." She hesitated. "What happened in there, anyway?"

Bill stared at the cement. For a long while, he said nothing as he recalled the night one more time.

_That didn't happen, did it?_ he thought. _It couldn't have._

"Hey," Jenny said. "Are you okay?"

He began to tremble under her hands. The image of the dead thing burned through his mind. Although he knew _he_ couldn't have killed her, he couldn't help but feel a mixture of horror and disgust over what he could do. He shut his eyes tightly and felt hot tears trail down his face.

Immediately, Jenny removed her hands. "Hey! Are you okay?"

He cringed, moving to curl on his side. "I… I didn't…"

Jenny frowned. Then, with a sigh and a surprisingly gentle touch, she pulled at the collar until the lock faced her.

"You can't be all that bad. You saved my life, you know." She patted his shoulder. "Come on. We've gotta get you out of here. The others aren't happy that you're still here."

She reached down to fiddle with the lock again, but before she could go any further, a voice rose behind her. It was still far off, but it was still loud enough for her to hear.

"Officer Jenny!"

"Shit," she muttered.

She stood and turned to face the voice. From his angle, Bill couldn't see who was approaching, but what he _could_ see was several pairs of feet. Shutting his eyes tightly, he couldn't help but to start shaking.

Above him, Thompson approached and pointed a bandaged hand towards Bill.

"Move aside, officer," he said. "Thanks for keeping an eye on it."

Jenny stood her ground. "And what do you plan on doing?"

Thompson lowered his hand slightly. "Kill it. Before you stopped those things in the pokémon center last night, they killed eleven of us. We can't risk leaving one to kill the rest."

Jenny frowned. "He was with me the whole night. He didn't kill anything."

Bill raised his eyes. His mind struggled to figure out what she was doing.

"It didn't kill anything yet. You don't know what it'll do," Thompson replied. He narrowed his eyes. "Why are you defending it?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Jenny asked.

She looked past Thompson to glance at the crowd behind him. What literally must have been the rest of the city – all fifteen people besides herself and Rose – stood behind Thompson. Some of them cast glares towards Jenny, as if already, they'd labeled her a traitor. The others stared at Bill with wide, frightened eyes.

"Did you all agree to this?" Jenny asked with a sharp edge to her voice.

"Do they need to?" Thompson growled.

Jenny turned a fierce glance towards Thompson. "I'd say so! You're proposing to execute a living being without a fair trial, with no evidence whatsoever that he's remotely violent! I can name at least three reasons why that's inhumane!"

"You know what's also inhumane?" Thompson snapped. "Expecting us to live in this city with a thing whose kind wiped out a couple hundred thousand people in a few days! That's what's inhumane, officer, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're asking to get that badge revoked!"

Jenny narrowed her eyes. "You're out of line."

"No, _you're_ out of line!" Thompson pointed a thick finger at her. "I'm the mayor's son, and you have no right—"

"You're the mayor's son," Jenny said. "You have no power over the police force!"

There was a silence over the entire crowd. No one wanted to get involved in the argument, but now, not even Thompson had anything to say. Only a moment later did Jenny realize her mistake in evoking the memory of the dead the way she did, but her expression only softened slightly.

"Eddie, look, you may not think he deserves to live, but it isn't right to kill him without any evidence that he – this specific ixodida – did anything," Jenny explained calmly. "In fact, it's a felony to kill a pokémon like that, or have you already forgotten that part?"

"A felony? Even if letting it stay here will give it a chance to kill us all?" Thompson grumbled through clenched teeth.

"_We_ can't stay here," Jenny replied. "There's less than twenty of us now, and one of the others was killed with the parasite still in it. You know what happens when _that_ happens." She paused. "And, for that matter, you were about to add another one to the heap. Remember what happened a month ago when we shot and killed one of these things without getting rid of the parasite?"

Thompson looked at his feet. In the ensuing silence, Bill lifted his head. Something felt cold about what she'd just said. He couldn't imagine what kind of significance having the parasite attached to him would have when he died, but Jenny's words sounded foreboding.

The silence over the crowd was broken by a quiet voice in the back of the crowd.

"There were two monsters, weren't there? What happened to the other parasite? Is it alive and in the city?"

_Cut open our stomach if you want to find it that badly._

Bill shuddered. It was that voice again, the one that wasn't his but sounded as if it was him speaking. He could almost feel something smirking in his mind, and he drew a shuddering breath. For a long moment, he could do nothing but shiver as he felt the presence. He wanted to will it away. The longer it was there, the more real the events of the night before became. Soon, he could smell the blood again, taste the parasite melting in his mouth. It was all real, and he didn't want it.

_Pay attention, Bill. Those people are about to ask a very important question._

"I don't know," Jenny admitted. "That's the least of our concerns right now. The other one has eggs in its body. We have only a few hours left to evacuate the city before we're overrun with parasites again. At our numbers, we'll all be infected if we stay here."

"But we'll all be infected if we go out there! That's where _they_ are!" a voice protested.

Another voice cried out, "Leave Mauville? But-but how can we? Where will we go?"

_Ah. There it is._

"Well, we certainly can't stay here," Jenny responded. "The longer we stay here, the more danger we put ourselves in."

"We have no place to go from here!" someone else shouted. "They'll kill us either way!"

"I say we stay here," Thompson said. "We've got nothing to gain by running, and this is our home. It's our duty to protect it!"

Jenny glared at him. "Protect what? There's nothing left here! Our city is dying!"

"Only because the people we rely on to protect it failed!" Thompson snapped.

Immediately, Jenny narrowed her eyes. "What are you implying?"

"I'm implying the obvious," Thompson replied. "You failed. Your fellow officers are dead. How can we rely on you to lead us out of this city and to someplace safe?"

"I'm doing the best I can!" Jenny hissed.

"As anyone can see," Thompson drawled. A hand lazily motioned towards the creature behind her. "You're doing a wonderful job by telling us to leave our homes while you protect that thing. Why don't you just shoot us all right here and feed us to it?"

There was a chatter among the crowd. Some sided with Jenny in their desperation for safety. Others – a larger group – sided with Thompson and attempted to push forward. The noise pounded through Bill's skull as the crowd closed in around the monument. Jenny and those who sided with her pushed back, trying to drive away the ones who sided with Thompson as their voices rose in the heat of an argument. Lifting his eyes, Bill squinted as his vision blurred. Above him, he saw Rose trying to protect herself from the lumbering crowd. A bulky arm swung around, trying to get at a wiry man next to her but knocked her back instead. She tipped forward with a small cry, and at her angle, she would have smashed into the monument.

Instead, she found herself caught by a pair of metal arms.

The crowd stopped and turned to face the two: the girl who shook with shock and the creature that knelt beside her with his arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling. Bill didn't even think about moving. He just recalled lifting himself in a fluid motion to catch her. Now that he did, he wasn't sure what to do after that. Instead, he held her in surprise as a sweet scent floated into his nose. For that single moment, he felt her warmth and her weight, and he drifted into his own thoughts.

He was snapped back into reality when felt something collide into his shoulder with a loud ping. Blinking, he turned his head to find a member of the crowd stooping to pick up another rock beside the monument.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Let her go!"

Unable to think clearly, Bill instinctively held Rose tighter. She cried out sharply, and he turned to her with wide eyes to find her struggling against him.

"Rosie," he whispered. "Wait…"

Another rock struck his shoulder, followed by more as other members of the crowd joined in to strike or hold Jenny back. He winced, trying to move himself and Rose away from the pebble storm. Rose planted her hands on his chest and pushed as another cry escaped her throat. Surprised by the feeling of his sister pushing away from him, Bill let go, slipping his clawed hands away from her as she stumbled backwards to be caught by one of the townspeople.

Slowly, Bill stood. Only then did he feel the weight of the collar and chain around his neck as it jingled and tugged at him. More rocks flew towards him, to which he responded by shielding his head.

"Stop it!" Jenny screamed as she struggled against the hands that held her back. "Let go of me!"

Peeking beyond his arm, Bill managed to peek at Rose, who stared at him with wide eyes set into her pale face. Then, with a small cry, she turned and broke out of the crowd to run down the empty street. With a gasp, Bill started forward to go after her, but with a jingle, the chain reminded him of its presence. He choked as he was jerked back, the chain holding him tight against the monolith. The townspeople's voices rose in a loud commotion as the crowd backed away.

"It's going berserk!" one of them shouted.

Bill struggled against the chain, digging his claws between it and his neck as he desperately tried to pull it off. "No… Please… My sister…"

Thompson rounded on Jenny with a glare on his face. "See what I mean?! We can't keep that thing with us! It's better off dead!"

At Thompson's argument, Bill cried out and pulled on the chain again. "No! Rosie!"

Suddenly, time seemed to slow. Even though he could see the townspeople shouting, he could no longer hear them. Instead, he felt something warm creep across his chest as the familiar voice entered his brain.

_You can break through the chain if you used Iron Tail._

_Iron Tail?_ he thought. _But… these people will catch me again if I try to escape._

_They're afraid of you. They won't touch you._

_But…_

_Do you wish to save your sister? She'll be infected too if she's alone in the city._

Bill furrowed his eyebrows and stared in the direction his sister ran. He couldn't argue that he wanted to protect her. She was his sister, after all.

Before he fully reached a decision, his tail seemed to act without him. He felt it stiffen behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder to watch it rise and take on a white glow. The crowd around him screamed, but for once, it didn't pound through his head. Instead, it sounded muffled, like he was hearing it through cotton.

_Here. Allow me to free you._

With a snap, his tail cut cleanly through the chain's links. He felt the remaining end hit his back with a tap, sending him stumbling through the crowd and onto a knee in the empty space behind them. His eyes widened as he reached behind him to examine the chain.

_How could I cut through this?_ he thought.

Inside his mind, the voice grew impatient. _Never mind that now! Run!_

Drawing in a gasp, Bill scrambled to his feet and darted down the street. Behind him, the crowd scrambled to follow him. He could hear their shouts, and for a moment, he winced at the noise. Attempting to shake it off, he narrowed his eyes as he tried to peer into the maze of concrete in front of him. It occurred to him that he didn't know an inch of its layout, and Rose was nowhere to be seen by then.

A cold feeling rose in his chest.

_This is a city!_ he thought in panic. _Where do I go?_

The voice stirred. _Why, Bill, the answer is simple. Go where your sister went._

Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the townspeople slowing, hesitating in the shadows cast by the buildings. Already, he could see the flashes of light from several poké balls, and he knew from them that he only had a limited amount of time.

_I can't see her. How do I know which way she went?_

The voice sighed. _Honestly, are you one of the brightest in the human race? Allow me to give you a hint._

Bill felt something warm pass across his face, and immediately afterwards, a thousand different scents seemed to punch his nose. He gasped and stumbled to a lamp post for support as a trembling hand covered the lower half of his face.

_Inhale._

With a shuddering breath, Bill obliged. He could smell everything: dirt, asphalt, oil, rust – all the odors of a half-dead city. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on the scents, searching for something familiar.

As the shouts of the people behind him grew louder, he finally caught something. It was faint – earthy and sour yet, at the same time, sweet. It was certainly familiar. After all, he'd caught it in the crowd not long ago.

_Ah yes. She smells like that, doesn't she? Pleasant… but nothing I would prefer._

Bill opened his eyes. _Is that so?_

_Oh yes. Now. Follow it._

Slipping his hand from his mouth, Bill took another deep breath to catch the aroma one more time. Then, he launched forward.

---

The daylight played across the broken glass and the blood-stained floor in the pokémon center. Nurse Joy and Chansey's bodies had been removed to be prepared for proper burial, but no one dared to touch the purple creatures – one ripped apart and the other shot to death – that lay in the middle of the floor. Still, it was to this place that Rose returned. It was the only thing she knew, the only home she had in that city.

Slowly, she walked from the door to the side of the room, taking care to keep her distance from the creatures. Neither had the familiar crystals on their bodies, but one oozed a green gel from the wound where its parasite had been. Rose didn't think too much about this substance. Instead, she approached one of the booths to the side of the room and sat down with a heavy thump. With a sniffle, she slipped forward to bury her face in her arms.

After that, the tears came freely. Her cheeks and eyes felt hot as tears stung her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. Each sob shook her body. Part of her mourned the loss of the woman who had taken care of her for those past months. Another part wept from the sheer terror of the situation. All that was left was a tiny percentage of the city, and she didn't know where she would go next or what she would do. She was lost and, in her heart, incredibly alone.

Minutes passed like this until finally, she lifted her head. With a hiccup, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Her teeth bit her lower lip, and she tried to quiet herself in case someone happened to be listening. Trembling, she listened to the quiet of the center.

Something clacked behind her.

Straightening, she swallowed, the act painful, as if she was forcing down something large and hard. Behind her, the large parasite that had been in the male crept closer, trailing loose tentacles across the back of the seat until one slipped and caressed her shoulder. Slowly, she turned her head to see it perching on the top of the seat as its red glow pulsed.

Immediately, she scrambled backwards until her back smacked into the wall. A scream tore from her throat as she cringed, unable to move to escape. The parasite clamored forward, its body flashing hungrily as it approached as quickly as it could.

Before it got halfway across the back of the seat, a set of metal claws came down hard onto it, piercing through its large, red body. Blood trickled down the seat as the parasite's legs flailed for several moments. Finally, it stopped moving before bursting, spraying blood onto both its attacker and its intended victim.

Rose wrapped her arms around her knees and curled into a tight ball as she lifted her dark eyes. In the meantime, Bill withdrew his claws.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "It's a good thing I can follow your scent. A second more of trying to find you, and…"

He trailed off as he offered her a small smile that faded when he glanced at her. She stared at him with wide eyes, the tears still trickling down her cheeks to wash away the droplets of blood. At once, Bill stiffened, then slipped into the booth.

"Are you all right?" he repeated. "It didn't bite you, did it?"

When he got no response, he frowned slightly and lifted a hand to touch her face. She flinched away from him and closed her eyes tightly to avoid looking at him. Realizing the problem, Bill turned to face the table and sat down on the end of the seat, keeping a small distance between himself and his sister.

"You're still afraid of me," he said before glancing at her. "I wish there was a way to convince you I don't intend on harming you."

He glanced at his own claws. Each one glistened with blood, and only then did he realize what he'd done. He was so focused on protecting his sister that he didn't think twice about killing a living creature.

Then, he realized how serious that actually was. He knew that in his normal mindset, he would, without a question, avoid something that extreme at all costs. It was against his own principles. So, as he stared at his blood-stained claws, he couldn't help but wonder why he did it then.

_What's happening to me?_

It was a question that echoed through his mind for the past two days, but only then did he get a response.

_Only that which is natural. Normally, the victim's mind submits quickly to a total transformation. Yours… yours is strange. It resists, but regardless…_

In the meantime, Rose pressed herself into the wall. Her dark eyes stared at the creature beside her. A worried look crossed his face, but he did or said nothing more to her. She trembled. In all her time in Hoenn, she'd never seen one of his kind up close. With the others, that would have marked her lucky. The others killed whatever got this close. However, this one hadn't made a move against her yet. Nothing except the attempt to caress her cheek, and even then, he hadn't really touched her.

Still, she was trapped by him. To escape, she would have to go over or under the table to her left or over the seat to her right. Either way, she knew he'd catch her if she tried. She could only hope that one of the townspeople would come to save her.

Right then, she realized how much she actually missed Nurse Joy. The nurse had protected her for the past several months, but now…

Her whimpering snapped Bill out of his thoughts. The voice cleared from his mind, and for that brief moment, he forgot why he was so concerned a moment ago. Turning his head, he saw Rose staring at him with tears running down her cheeks. Jumping, he twisted himself in the seat.

"Rosie, what is it?" he asked softly. "No, no, don't cry! I promise you, I—"

Behind him, he heard a crackling. Glancing over his shoulder, he caught sight of the green gel in the dead male moving. Slowly, he reached towards Rose with an arm. She cried out in fear and cringed, to which Bill responded with a soft hush as he kept his eyes on the gel.

Suddenly, it broke open, and a red wave of parasites flooded out.

"Oh no," he whispered. Then, he turned back to Rose. "Rosie, listen to me. I know you're afraid of me, but I need to get you to someplace safe. Will you trust me?"

She cringed in response and shut her eyes tightly. Wincing at her response, Bill looked over his shoulder again at the flood of red that was creeping towards him. Resolving himself, he reached for Rose and grabbed her. Immediately, she screamed, causing Bill to flinch and turn away. It took him several deep breaths for him to reach back, pull her out of the booth, and lifted her in his arms. He nearly dropped her on the way out, and for that, his tail rose and wrapped around her waist, an act that was answered with more screaming. Involuntarily, Bill shuddered at the sound. The sound pounded through his ears, but by some miracle, he managed to steady himself and avoid dropping his sister. Instead, he bit his lip and tried to brace himself against the noise until his teeth drew blood. The pain helped only slightly, and as a result, his first movements away from the booth were actually more of a stumble.

"Rosie, I'm sorry for this," he said.

Right then, he felt something on his feet. Looking down, he saw the parasites crowding around him and biting into his clawed toes. With a sharp gasp, he shook them off his feet and started quickly for the door. The red wave hesitated for a moment as if in collective thought, then followed him outside.

Stumbling into the open, Bill squinted into the sunlight and clutched his sister tighter to his chest. No sooner had he appeared than several howls rose into the air. Raising his head, he turned his eyes to find the townspeople rushing towards him. Several pokémon – mostly manectric and electrike – galloped beside them at their feet.

"There it is!" one of them cried. "It's got Joy's girl!"

Thompson shoved himself to the front of the pack and stopped several feet from Bill. The creature took a few steps back, a look of uncertainty crossing his face as he tightened his grip slightly around his sister. She responded with a whimper and a squirm.

"Let her go! You're not taking her!" Thompson snapped.

Bill glanced to his side to see the red wave washed from the door to the road. He took a shuddering breath and turned back to the townspeople.

"Please! Run!" he shouted.

The parasites pooled around his ankles. He could feel them try to bite him, but none of them seemed interested in him. Taking a few steps back, he no longer heard the crowd shouting at him. Instead, he stared downward at the wave of red pulling away from his feet.

_Useful, isn't it? They know their own kind – and, for that matter, their own predator._

Blinking, he watched as the wave moved towards the other signs of life: the townspeople. Drawing in a gasp, he found he could do nothing except watch as the parasites surged towards the pokémon first to consume them in blankets of red. Electricity shot in all directions as the creatures howled in surprise and tried to retaliate against a mass. The people shrieked and fled in a confusion, some directly into the wave, some in the opposite direction, and some to the sides. Those who ran directly into the wave were immediately consumed, just like the pokémon. Several parasites bit into their legs at once, and with shouts, they fell into the masses.

Bill felt something curl around his neck. Looking down, he realized Rose was whimpering helplessly as she clung to him. She closed her eyes and turned her head, pressing her forehead into his chest.

Resolving himself, Bill went inward to address the voice.

_Tell me. How can I drive away these things?_

For a moment, the voice was silent. Then, he heard its drawl.

_You can't._

Widening his eyes, he took a step back.

_Then what do I do now?_

_What else _would_ you do? Run._

_And abandon these people?_

_If their fate is hopeless. There are too many of our kind and too few of theirs. They will be consumed, and you cannot save them except for the little one in your arms if you run now._

Lowering his eyes briefly, Bill contemplated his options. Rose clutched his neck tighter, and he felt her hot tears trickling across his metal skin.

A sharp cry and several gunshots jolted him back into reality. Looking up, he saw Officer Jenny backing away from the wave with her gun pointed at them. Without thinking, Bill started forward, towards her. Her eyes rose to flash a startled glance towards him as he placed himself between her and the wave. The parasites pooled around him and attempted to bite his ankles for a moment. He crept slightly closer to Jenny, unwrapped his tail from Rose's waist, and twisted it to curl on the ground around Jenny's feet. Immediately, he could feel the parasites biting into his tail, and he winced slightly but kept his back against Jenny's. Feeling him against her, Jenny drew in a gasp.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Confusing them," he replied. "Stay close."

A flash pulsed through the other parasites, and slowly, they crawled away from their feet. None of them seemed to even detect Jenny's presence. Jenny holstered her gun and pressed her back against Bill's.

"What…?" she murmured.

"I'll explain later," Bill said as he whipped his tail back and wrapped it around his sister. "Run and don't look back!"

With that, he held Rose close and darted down the street, away from the wave. Jenny didn't need to be asked twice. She followed him down the street.

---

For a long while, neither Bill nor Jenny said a word to each other, and Rose merely whimpered into her brother's chest. Together, they dashed across the city, weaving through rows of empty buildings to place as much space between themselves and the waves of parasites as they possibly could. Overhead, the sun swung across the blue sky indifferently, without any concern for the panic beneath it.

Only when the buildings began to give way to the open fields beyond the city did Jenny slow down. She stopped, took several steps towards a lamp post, and leaned against it to catch her breath. Bill continued for a few more steps before realizing his companion had lagged behind. He stopped, panting as he glanced over his shoulder towards her.

"Are you all right?" he asked, his throat burning with each word.

She nodded and pushed away from the post. "Yeah. Just… Just need to rest for awhile."

Bill nodded and glanced towards the outskirts. He wondered briefly where the road that trailed out of the city would lead, but before he could speculate any further, he felt a sharp pain rush through his tail. Gasping, he sent a glance downward to find Rose frantically pulling at it. She whimpered as her fingers yanked at segments in an effort to pull the tail off. Drawing in a breath through a wince, Bill held her tighter, which was met with another squeal and more urgent struggles from Rose.

Jenny cast a glance towards the two of them and frowned.

"Put her down," she said.

At her words, Bill stared at her for a beat, then awkwardly leaned down to put Rose on her feet. As soon as he unwrapped his tail from her waist, she yelped and reached up to shove him away. He stumbled backwards in surprise for a few steps and watched with wide eyes as Rose darted behind Officer Jenny.

"Rose!" Jenny murmured.

Swallowing hard, Bill looked away, towards the edge of town. A sense of guilt for scaring the child hit him, and he couldn't help but blush with shame. Clenching his teeth, he studied the road intently and tried to push the thought of Rose's reaction out of his mind.

"Where does this road lead?" he asked. His voice was quiet, nearly a whisper.

Jenny gazed down the path. "That's the north road. Beyond here's the desert, Mt. Chimney, Lavaridge, Fallarbor, all the mountain towns."

Bill straightened at the list. One name stuck out for him, just enough to push the guilt completely out of his thoughts.

"Fallarbor," he echoed. "Lanette…"

Jenny shot him a strange look. "Huh?"

Bill ignored her for the moment and quickly ran through a possible plan. He touched his chin in thought as he remembered the red-head.

"She may provide some help," Bill said, mostly to himself.

Jenny furrowed her eyebrows. "Who? Are you okay?"

Staring at the path, Bill moved his claws to cover his mouth. "What if she's infected too? …But there may still be a chance she isn't…"

"Who?" Jenny asked as she stepped back, herding the girl with her.

Bill glanced over his shoulder with a slightly startled expression, as if he only just now realized she was standing there. Then, his expression shifted, changing to one of extreme gravity.

"We should go to Fallarbor Town," he said. "There's someone there that I would like to speak to."

"Who?" Jenny asked. Then, something else about what he just said struck her. "Wait. We?"

Bill glanced towards the road. "Her name is Lanette Rousseau. She's a colleague and very good friend of mine. I know she may have some information that could be of use." He paused to give Jenny a small grin. "I assume you'll be coming with me. Someone must help me watch over Rosie, and you were very right in your observation that there may be nothing left here."

Jenny straightened and shook her head. "Oh no. I can't. I've… I've got to go back!"

With that, she turned and started for the center of the city again. Before she could take so much as three steps, Bill darted forward and blocked her path. She stopped short and found herself staring into his eyes.

"Please, officer!" he whispered. "If you go back, you'll be running back into grave danger! I can't allow you!"

Jenny's hand moved to the gun holstered on her hip. "It's my duty. I've got to protect the city."

Bill's expression softened slightly. "There were too many of them. We were entirely outnumbered. There's no one left to protect."

A silence lapsed between the two. For a long moment, Jenny glared at him; his words stabbed her with cold pain. He stood in her way, arms and claws stretched at his sides to keep her from passing him. His face took on a worried shade, and his sharp teeth poked from his mouth to bite his lower lip lightly.

Suddenly, in the distance, a noise rose. Several eerie shrieks – human with a distinct, animalistic tone – rose and mingled with each other. Somewhere in the middle of the sound echoed a scream that crept into the bones of the three at the end of the city and chilled their bodies. Bill looked over his shoulder, towards the sound. Taking the opportunity, Jenny reached outward and rested a gloved hand on the opposite shoulder with the intent of pushing him out of the way. However, something grabbed her other hand, and she stopped where she was.

Glancing towards her with wide eyes, Bill found Jenny's hand on his shoulder but her head turned towards something clutching her other hand. On Jenny's other side, Rose kept close, her small hands gripping Jenny's wrist and her eyes lowered. Both of her older companions hesitated, watching the glistening tears trailing down the child's cheeks. Then, slowly, they turned to glance at one another, and without exchanging a word, they came to a truce.

"Fine," Jenny said. "I'll go. For the both of you."

Bill relaxed. "Thank you, Officer."

With a sigh, Jenny took off her badge. She turned and pulled away from Bill to walk towards the road leading away from the city. Her coffee-colored eyes remained on the gold of the emblem in her hand while the other sought Rose's. The girl kept close, her hands clutching the officer's as tears continued trickling down her cheeks. Jenny didn't seem to notice as she dropped the badge and motioned for Bill to follow.

"I can't be much of a police officer without a precinct," she said.

Bill fell into step behind her. He wanted to say something to comfort her, but nothing came to mind. Instead, all that came was a question.

"Then what should I call you?"

Jenny glanced at him. "My name is Veronica. Veronica Jenny. And you?"

Bill tilted his head. "I told you already."

"Humor me."

Blinking, Bill fumbled with a response. "I… My… Ah." He shook his head. "Bill McKenzie."

Veronica nodded and lifted Rose's hand. "And Rose McKenzie."

Quietly, the trio stepped out of the city and continued onward, leaving the deathly silence behind them. After a few beats of silence, Veronica exhaled.

"God help all three of us," she murmured.


	8. Seven: The Plural

Seven  
(The plural of I is we.)

In a dimly lit room in Pallet Town, Professor Oak sat with a book on his lap and his eyes half closed. Although he was normally very active for a man in his sixties, ever since he'd returned from Polaris Institute, he didn't do much except sit in thought. Occasionally, his assistant Tracey Sketchit would, after going through the daily list of chores, open the door to the researcher's study to check on him, but invariably, he'd find Professor Oak sitting alone in the wheelchair to which he'd been bound. Tracey assumed by then that the chair – or even the stump of a right leg, gained during a strange incident a week ago that even the NDF refused to talk about – was the source of the elder's strange silence. In any case, for the past week, he barely got much in the way of words out of his mentor.

Instead, he ran the household as best as he could and, when that was done, tried his best to coax Oak into his former sense of cheeriness. He'd even recruited the help of Delia Ketchum, a housewife whose company usually brightened Oak's day without fail. That particular day, however, was the first time for as long as Tracey knew the researcher that even her presence wasn't enough for Oak.

Currently, Delia sat on the arm of a couch. Her pale hands were folded neatly on her lap, and her dark eyes were fixed on the professor's haggard face. He was awake, and she knew it. Yet, even though they mutually understood they were aware of each other's presence, he pretended to nap in the wheelchair.

The long silence between them was heavy. She'd arrived there early that morning to help Tracey with the chores, and when he insisted on doing the afternoon ones himself, she wandered into the office and took a seat to perform her other duty in that lab: keep the old professor company. That was three hours ago, and her conversation was largely one-sided.

"Professor," she said at last.

Then, there was a pause. She couldn't think of what to say after that. So, instead, she said the first words that came to her mind.

"I found a new recipe for pineapple upside-down cake," she said cheerily. "It wouldn't be any trouble at all to make one for you. What do you say?"

Predictably, there was silence in response. The only thing that interrupted it was the sound of a doorbell, followed shortly by the pounding of Tracey's feet against the floor.

"I've got it! Don't worry!" Tracey announced from somewhere in the hall.

Delia paused, listening to the muffled sounds of Tracey slowing down as he reached the door. Seconds later, she heard his voice, but she couldn't make out what he said. Instead, she turned back to Oak and smiled as sweetly as she could.

"Tracey's a good boy," she said. "You're lucky to have him. He's honest and hard-working, just the kind of help anyone would love to have."

When she didn't even get a response from that, she tilted her head.

"Last week was Ash's birthday. It's hard to believe it's been so long since he left home." She sighed wistfully. "My baby is all grown up already, Professor. Just last week, he won—"

Before she could tell the professor about her son's latest exploit, there was a knock on the door. She looked up just as Tracey opened the door and peeked into the room.

"Professor, you've got a visitor," he said. "She'd like to see you right away." Then, he glanced at Delia. "Mrs. Ketchum, could you help me in the kitchen?"

Delia, of course, was no fool. Even though Tracey said it as a side comment, it was meant to tell her the visitor, whoever it was, wanted privacy. With a nod, she stood, offered Oak a sympathetic glance, and walked out of the room.

As she followed Tracey into the hall, she caught sight of the visitor. Much to her surprise, it wasn't anyone she knew. The visitor was dressed in a pantsuit that conformed to her skinny build yet made her look somewhat shorter than she must have been. Her dark, narrow eyes were cast towards the door, rather than Delia, and for that, Delia saw only the woman's profile: the slightly upturned nose, the pale skin, and the dark hair pulled into a tight bun. In some sense, the woman bore a kind of beauty, but Delia could see it was foreign – both literally and metaphorically. The woman's face simply looked expressionless. Distant.

Without a word to either Tracey or Delia, the stranger glided into the office and shut the door quietly behind her. That enough was a cue for Delia to turn and walk down the hall. There was something about that woman that didn't quite sit right with her, and she couldn't for the life of her figure out what.

Inside the office, the stranger walked to the same spot Delia had taken a moment ago and carefully perched herself on the arm with her own pale hands folded neatly on her lap. For several moments, neither the professor nor the stranger said a word.

Finally, she broke the silence.

"Hello, Professor Oak."

Oak raised his head. The voice sounded quiet, and it was tinged with an accent. Even though it had been years since he'd heard it, to his ears, that voice hadn't aged.

"Mrs. McKenzie," he rasped.

She smiled, but it wasn't the same warm, familiar smile as Delia's. "Riko."

Oak nodded slowly and moved his head to stare at the book in his lap. "How did you know I was here?"

Riko unfolded herself and stood. With slow movements, she wandered to the closest window to pull back the curtain. A beam of white light entered the room and illuminated a cloud of dust motes floating lazily in the air.

"My husband was transferred to Polaris Institute last week," she explained. "We arrived there two days ago, and when we inquired about you, we were told you had returned to Pallet Town on medical leave. Cornelius sent me here."

"You left Cornelius to come here," Oak murmured with a shake of his head.

She turned and offered a small smile. "You know me well. Do you know why I've traveled here?"

Oak fully opened his eyes. "I tried to call you."

With a nod, she moved to return to her seat. "That's right. What did you try to tell us?"

For that beat, Oak was silent. He clenched his jaw and resolved himself. Slowly, like a crab crawling out of its shell, he unfolded himself from the daze he'd been in for the past week. He stared at Riko's heart-shaped face and saw only determination – not anger, impatience, or even fear. It wasn't anything he'd expected. There was no other emotion there but pure resolve, as if it was a battle of wits on her side, and she had every intention of winning.

"Professor," she said, "when Cornelius and I arrived at Polaris, we were surprised to find that my son wasn't there. You remember him, don't you?"

Oak nodded. "Bill."

Riko's expression softened slightly. "We'd looked everywhere for him, but he was nowhere to be found. What's more, no one wanted to tell us where he was." She leaned towards Oak slightly at this point, as if to emphasize her next statement. "You were trying to tell us something about him, weren't you?"

Oak merely fixed his eyes on her. His throat felt dry, and he couldn't bring himself to tell her. Yet, he knew all too well that Riko was smart, quite possibly sharper than her husband, or at least, she knew how to coax information she wanted out of the source. Oak knew he couldn't lie to her, not that he ever really wanted to, anyway.

"Professor," she said. Her voice softened and dropped in volume. "Answer one question for me. Where is William?"

Oak didn't look away. Instead, he sought her eyes and stared deep into them.

"Hoenn."

Another silence lapsed between them. Riko leaned back, her already milky face paling even more. Yet, the rest of her face refused to change, to betray any of her emotions as she stared at the aged researcher.

"Hoenn?" she whispered.

Oak sighed in his chair and nodded. "There was an accident just before I first tried to call you. Bill was infected with the parasite XP-494, and he was taken to Hoenn to be quarantined." He paused for a beat, realizing how cold and mechanical his own words sounded. "I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. McKenzie."

The silence was so heavy it almost physically hurt Oak at that point. He struggled to find the courage to look at her. After all, he'd lost a son too, years and years ago. He knew what it felt like to stand in the cold, dark silence helplessly as the heart burst with disbelief at the thought of never seeing the same smile ever again.

It was the shuffle of Riko slipping off the arm of the chair and rising to her feet that forced him to look up, towards her face. She was faster, however, and before he could see her expression, she turned away, her arms swinging behind her to clasp neatly at the small of her back.

"I see," she said.

Her voice was contemplative, almost light – hardly what Oak expected. For that, he shivered.

"Mrs. McKenzie," he said, slightly louder than he intended.

"In that case, William is the second one I've lost to those creatures," she said. After a brief pause, she lifted her chin. "Well, then, it's of the utmost importance that we begin our own research."

"Sorry?" Oak gave her a strange look. "Our own research?"

Riko turned and smiled. Her hand motioned to his computer.

"May I?"

For a beat, Oak hesitated. He wasn't sure what to expect, but nonetheless, he nodded slowly. Riko's smile grew as she moved to the computer, booted it up, and quickly navigated to an inbox. Oak couldn't quite see what she was doing, but he noticed a porygon appearing on the screen in the corner of an e-mail.

"My husband is a clever man," she told him. "He never truly trusted the Committee. Not after…" She glanced over her shoulder. "You recall what my son did."

Oak nodded. It was an incident he was almost certain was kept from the Committee. Bill had never fully explained himself past mere curiosity over the levels of security on the reports from other institutes – valuable information that could have helped the rest of the network of laboratories involved with Project Stardust. Nonetheless, it was one of Bill's most serious infractions, and it was a wonder the Committee never contacted Oak about the fact that one of his own had hacked into a classified database. It took hours of work to cover it up, and ever since Bill had discovered the caches, Oak hadn't quite settled on what to make of it.

"Cornelius has not been able to trust the Committee after William told us what they were doing," Riko explained. "Since then, he had been working on this, but only now can we find a use for it. Come see."

With a blink, Oak rolled himself forward, just enough to see the screen fully. There, he realized the porygon wasn't just a graphic. It moved, producing white boxes from its beak which it placed in the inbox. Each square turned into an unread message, its title in bold. The list grew, but the titles were all similar: Committee reports, all neatly numbered from twenty-six down to one.

"Daily reports," Riko said. "Cornelius created a chain of porygon to copy and relay these messages. I can't entirely understand what they mean, but perhaps you can."

At once, Oak understood his role. He watched Riko straighten and turn to him, and with a smile, she continued.

"This is what I mean by we, Professor," she told him. "Cornelius will relay the reports to me, and you will read them and interpret them. Perhaps we can form a cure or at least find some way to rescue my children."

Oak hesitated. On the one hand, he was getting tired of being helpless in his laboratory. Yet, at the same time, Riko was no researcher, and her goals were lofty. That was, of course, beside the fact that his laboratory was ill-equipped to study the parasites, and he had no idea how long Cornelius could continue to steal reports from the Committee.

Noticing his silence, Riko walked towards him and leaned down to his level.

"Professor," she said, "both my son and my daughter are in Hoenn. They are hardly the only ones, as well. Think of all the people we can help if we work quickly. The Committee is dedicated to studying these things, but what results are they producing now?"

Oak took in her words and let a silence lapse afterwards. His fingers played across the edge of a wheel. Then, slowly, he nodded.

"Well, it's a lot better than doing nothing," Oak replied. "Let's get to work."

The man's old smile returned to his face as he pushed himself to the computer. One by one, he opened the messages and filled the screen with charts and text. Before he read a single one, he glanced at Riko.

"Mrs. McKenzie," he said, "would you mind if I asked you something?"

She moved to perch on the arm of the sofa again. "Hmm?"

"You don't seem too affected by your children being in Hoenn. Why?"

Riko offered a knowing smile. "Professor Oak, neither of them are dead yet."

---

About a week's journey north of Mauville, there was a place – a division between the green of the foothills, the brown of the mountains, and the vast desert that took up no more than an eighth of the region's area. Cliffs rose over grassy fields and one of Hoenn's many lakes, and the perpetual dust storm that veiled the desert valley swirled between the walls of its canyons. Yet, even then, the shadow of Mount Pyre still cast over them, imposing like a giant over the heads of children.

At the edge of one of those cliffs, not even close to the foot of the mountain but still in its shadow, Veronica Jenny sat with her coffee-colored eyes towards the city she once helped to protect. It had been a week of arduous foot travel through the fields, but it seemed like months since she left the limits of the already desolate Mauville City. In any case, she certainly didn't feel like a police officer anymore. Since then, she'd broken into at least one abandoned cabin along the way. The people were long gone (no mystery because the ixodida preyed on the people who lived in isolation), but the things they left behind were more than useful to herself and the child with her. Blankets, clothing, food, water – all the things that kept them alive. She'd long since disposed of the skimpy officer's uniform in favor of the jeans, boots, and coats that were left in the abandoned Winstrate household, and she was glad she did. Nights in that part of Hoenn were cold and unforgiving, although the sun often blazed overhead during the day.

Behind her, at the crackling fire closer to the cliff walls, the child slept. Rose curled in the salvaged blankets. She hadn't said a word for weeks, even before the group departed from Mauville. Really, Veronica wasn't surprised. The only person who got a sound from her was Ellen Joy, the local nurse and the one who took care of her after the girl was found wandering along the edge of the city. Joy was gone now, dead from the venom of one of the monsters, and unfortunately, Veronica was too slow to hide the body from the girl. Yet, she seemed to trust Veronica, possibly because she'd frequented the pokémon center enough to be considered a friend of Joy's. Hence, Rose kept mostly to Veronica (literally, as she didn't wander more than five feet away from the officer at any given time) when she was awake, although she didn't say a thing to either of her companions.

Partly, it was because of the third member of their small party. Even Veronica, despite all the bravery she gained from several years on the police force and her silent efforts to convince herself her companion was harmless, felt some sense of discomfort with the creature for a variety of reasons. First, it was the fact that he spent much of each evening after the first one away from the party. He never said what he was doing, but Veronica knew enough about his kind to figure it out. Not only that, but it seemed painfully obvious to her what he was doing. He grew violently ill from the berries and canned food they found the first night, and every night after that, he would disappear for an hour or two and return with the joints of his hands still tinted red. Veronica shuddered and tried not to think about it.

Second, it was the way he thought. Despite what Veronica had – and hadn't – seen him do, he still seemed disturbingly human in mindset. In fact, from what Veronica could tell, he seemed clever, possibly even eloquent at times, to the point where she had no doubt that he possessed a higher level of intellect than she did. That made her uncomfortable mostly in that she couldn't tell what he was thinking. He had yet to make a move that she could take to be a threat, but on the other hand, she would have preferred that he was simple, easy to read. Instead, he kept himself just out of her reach.

Even more than that, the other reason why she was unnerved by his mindset was the fact that a member of a species she took to be mindless killers could have ever been human at all. To add to the latter feeling, he insisted he was Rose's brother, a fact that added to the girl's anxiety towards being a member of the party. At the same time, his possible relationship with the girl tied him to the human race, which further forced Veronica to consider the idea that the creatures she thought were bloodthirsty monsters could possibly be of her own species.

Third, there was a combination of the first two, in which no matter how hard Veronica tried to remain wary of where he was and what he was doing, he still had a knack for catching her off-guard. Although his body was metal and his movements were clumsy when she watched him (and never mind the presence of the collar and chain from over a week ago), when she wasn't looking, he somehow moved silently around her to the point where Veronica always lost track of him. Always.

So, when she heard a voice in her ear, she of course wasn't expecting it in the least.

"I'm back."

Involuntarily, Veronica jumped and twisted around, her wide eyes falling on the creature as he stumbled backwards. His long tail twisted around his ankles, and with a sharp cry, he lost his balance and landed with a bang on his rear. The two stared at each other in shock as nearby, Rose shifted and groaned in her sleep. Drawing her legs up from the edge of the cliff, Veronica glanced first towards Rose, then towards her third companion.

"Bill!" she hissed. "For the last time, don't do that!"

The ixodida relaxed as a weak smile crossed his lips. "Sorry. I tried not to be discreet this time."

Veronica huffed and turned back towards the city. "You make ninjask look like exploud."

"Oh."

For a long moment, there was silence between them. Veronica never quite knew what to say to him – or Rose, for that matter – so these silences weren't a particularly uncommon event. Usually, as if he could sense her discomfort with him, it was Bill who broke the quiet.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" he asked.

He moved to sit beside her. She stiffened, listening to his joints click and the chain trailing from his collar jingle against his back. While she was relieved he was making a conscious effort to make his presence known, she still couldn't help but feel tense with him that close to her.

"Yeah," she said as she drew her knees up to her chest.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him turn his head to stare at her. The light from the campfire illuminated a crescent of his face in an orange glow, and in that crescent, she saw the corner of a small frown.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" he asked.

"Uh…"

He nodded and slid back onto the cliff. Veronica shifted in her seat, then turned to look over her shoulder. Behind her, Bill stood and walked the few steps to Rose's side. He glanced down at her for a few moments before lowering himself to one knee.

"How is she doing?"

Veronica frowned. "Looks like she's sleeping well. Don't bother her."

Bill didn't respond. He didn't move, save for the lazy wag of his tail. Tilting her head, Veronica pulled herself towards him, crawling across the cliff on her hands and knees until she reached the campsite. When he finally realized she was approaching him, Bill turned his head to watch her until she knelt by his side.

"So," she said.

"I thought I was making you uncomfortable," he murmured.

She scoffed. "I never said you were." Then, she glanced at him. "Do you want that thing off your neck now?"

"What?" Bill's hand rose to his neck. He paused and relaxed. "Oh. That. It's… it's not necessary."

"It's gonna rust on you," she said. "C'mon. Over here, so we won't wake up Rose."

Without thinking, she grabbed him by the wrist. At once, she hesitated slightly. The metal was cold to the touch, hardly what she'd expected. Involuntarily, she shivered.

Noticing her reaction, Bill pulled at his arm. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Veronica replied quickly.

Before he could protest, she stood, pulling at him as she went. He didn't resist, simply rose and followed her to the edge of the cliff. There, she placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed downward. Following her direction, he knelt in front of her, allowing her to stoop over him. One of her hands found the lock at the back of the collar, and the other reached up to pull the clip from her blue hair. Her ponytail spread at once to cover her neck as she carefully pushed the metal piece of the clip into the lock. Slowly, she moved to kneel, and sensing her shift in position, Bill slid to perch and slouch on the edge of the cliff.

For a long moment, Veronica worked quietly, trying to find the mechanism in the lock that would spring it open. Every so often, she'd sigh in frustration. The thing was already rusting.

"Aren't you uncomfortable with this on you?" she muttered.

Bill shrugged. "I don't even notice it."

"Really? I would." Veronica frowned. Then, after a short pause, she added, "What was Rose like?"

At once, Bill tried to turn to look at her. Drawing in a breath, Veronica placed both of her hands on the sides of his head to keep him straight.

"Stay still. I can't get this off if you move," she hissed.

Bill smiled. "I'm sorry. You just surprised me with that question."

Veronica found the lock and pushed the metal of the clip in again. "Really?"

"Well, yes. It seemed like a non sequitur."

Veronica paused. "A what?"

"Ah… something that one says that has nothing to do with the conversation."

Bill punctuated this definition by trying to shift his tail, but it came in contact with one of Veronica's arms. She jumped and then swatted it away.

"Stay still," she hissed. "That means this thing too. Honestly, maybe I should just tape all your joints together."

He curled his tail around his front instead. "I'm sorry."

"And—" She frowned. "—you're avoiding the question."

"I'm not entirely sure I understand it," Bill admitted. "What was she like? When?"

Veronica tilted her head. "Before she came to Hoenn. When Nurse Joy found her near Mauville, she was already traumatized. She couldn't have been like that before, but damned if I could get much out of her. The only person she talked to was Nurse Joy herself." She hesitated. "So, what was she like?"

A small period of silence lapsed between them. Bill stared at his lap as the tip of his tail swayed back and forth in front of him. His claws dug into the earth, and he swallowed slightly.

"Rosie has always been shy… and rather selective when it comes to company," Bill replied slowly.

"Oh." Veronica stopped for a moment. "So, she's always been that quiet?"

"To strangers, yes."

"But you're not a stranger, right?"

Bill shrugged. "She can't recognize me physically. As it is, I'm practically a stranger to her."

Veronica paused for a moment in thought before playing with the lock again. "Well, uh, I'm sure she'll open up to you again. It just takes time."

A long silence fell between them. At first, Veronica thought Bill simply had nothing to say, but the longer the silence drew on, the more she felt a sense of awkwardness, as if the emotion had become tangible. The air felt heavy and cold, and as if to react to the sudden change, Bill pulled his legs close to his chest and rested his chin on his knees. Veronica stopped.

"What?" she asked.

Bill lifted his head slightly.

"What?" Veronica repeated. "Is it something I said? All I said is she might be shy now, but you don't have to worry. You two are siblings, right? She'll learn to trust you ag—oh. _Oh._" Her hands began to work slowly. "It wouldn't be 'again,' would it?"

"No, it wouldn't." Bill's voice was softer than usual at that point.

"So, is it just age difference?"

"It's complicated."

"Huh."

With a slight twist, Veronica found the catch in the lock, and it sprang open without much protest. She exhaled a sigh of relief before slipping the clip out of the lock and, with her other hand, the lock out of the collar. The chain clattered against Bill's skin as the collar fell from his neck and neatly into his hands. He stared at it blankly for several moments as Veronica took a seat beside him. Her hands busied themselves with pulling her coarse, blue hair back into its usual ponytail.

"I guess I can relate," she said. "All my sisters went off to different cities before I got out of the academy, and don't get me started about family reunions. You might think we all look exactly the same, but we can't hold a conversation with each other if we tried."

A small smile crossed Bill's lips. "Thank you."

At his quiet response, Veronica smiled. For once, she felt relaxed around him, but she couldn't explain why. The question hovered in her mind for a moment. Hundreds of reasons flitted through her head as to why she should be wary, why the creature next to her should be considered dangerous. Yet, at the same time, she sat close to him without a second thought or a weapon in her hands while she chatted with him as if he was a friend.

"Veronica."

She snapped back into attention and glanced towards Bill. He was looking outward, towards the patch of darkness that was the dead skyline of Mauville. His claws were wrapped around the collar, and the chain jingled softly.

"What?" she asked.

"It's Rosie," he said.

Veronica snapped the hair clip back into place and lowered her arms. "What about her?"

Bill looked over his shoulder. The orange light played across his face as he glanced towards his sister with a solemn expression.

"I need your help," he replied. "She won't trust me, but the last thing I want for her is to become infected."

Veronica shrugged. "What do you want me to do?"

He turned his head and, in the dimness of the campfire, he looked into Veronica's eyes. She stopped, unable to look anywhere except at Bill's stare. A shiver went down her spine as she realized his eyes – the expression itself – was completely and undeniably human. He opened his mouth, and the next four words came out low.

"Help me protect her."

---

Getting to sleep, Bill realized, was a difficulty unto itself. He never particularly liked sleeping outdoors on the ground in the first place. Yet, it seemed that his body went out of its way to make every possible position he could have taken as a human even more uncomfortable on the ground next to the campfire, what with his metal armor making a hard bed harder and his new appendages working their way into awkward positions halfway through the night. Sleep was short and rare, and when it came, it was hardly restful.

After all, when sleep came, so did the dreams.

Bill knew about the things he did – or, rather, the things the parasite made him do. The thing was he tried not to think about it, tried to pass it all off as a bad dream, but when he slept, that was when things got bad. Over and over again, every single night, he'd see the same thing – the female, the male, all of his victims when he hunted. He smelled their blood, tasted the salty remains of the parasite on his tongue, felt bones break under his hands.

Yet, the most terrifying thing of all was the fact that when he was awake, he didn't think twice about those things anymore. For whatever reason, he couldn't. Instead, he thought about survival, about getting through the wilderness of Hoenn. But there, in the confines of his dreams, he thought about it. He thought about what was happening to him when he was awake, the people and pokémon he hurt, and most importantly, what it all meant. It was only in his dreams that he felt completely and unshakably human. And that part of him was terrified.

That night, however, after the images flashed through his mind, he found himself someplace else. In every direction, all he could see was gray. The soft, forest floor was carpeted with dead, gray leaves. Overhead, bare, gray branches laced like old fingers across the gray sky. There was nothing else there. No wind. No pokémon. Nothing.

At first, he simply walked. He had no idea what was beyond the forest – or if, in fact, the forest ever ended. The longer he spent, the more he realized the latter was a very likely option: that the forest simply stretched outward in all directions forever. After what felt like hours, he stopped. The thought of the forest being infinite was heavy on his mind, and for that moment, he felt a sudden wave of loneliness. His breathing quickened, and he turned swiftly, as if to catch a glimpse of some hope, some sign of life that proved he wasn't trapped in a cold and gray forest of nothing forever.

All he got was the voice.

_Human beings,_ it said, _are fascinating creatures._

He stopped. The voice was there, and he strained his ears to listen to it and figure out where it came from.

As if to ignore his attempts to locate it, the voice continued. _There is, for one, you. Right now, you find yourself in a sea of despair. Why? Is it because you have no one here?_

Bill chose not to answer, but the voice seemed to know what he was thinking.

_And those other dreams. You feel agony over hurting others. Why? They are not you._

The voice, Bill realized, was coming from everywhere all at once. He closed his eyes and took a step back.

"Where are you?" he asked. "Show yourself!"

_Fear. That, I believe, is the most intriguing emotion of all. You fear for that girl's safety. Why? Is it because you feel guilty, perhaps? And what of this other fear? Fear of yourself? Fear of… me?_

"You," he whispered. Then, his eyes opened as it suddenly dawned on him. "How…"

_We are one, are we not? Of the same body, within the same mindscape…_

He felt a pair of metal arms slide around his flesh shoulders and tighten. A face leaned close to his ear, and he could feel the hot breath of the creature, the same one he'd become, caress his skin.

"One," it said.

Bill drew in a shuddering breath. He couldn't move, and his body felt stone cold. All he could do was breathe and feel his heart race as the parasite held him.

"Perhaps we should talk," it said. "I should explain what I gave you."

The arms pulled at Bill, and he found he could do nothing but follow. His bare feet stumbled backwards, slipping on the dead leaves until finally, the creature forced him to sit down at the base of the tree. Bill found himself staring into the face of the other being, and though he'd never seen himself in his new form, he was certain it would have looked exactly like his companion did now.

"No," he said. "No, this is some kind of…"

The parasite smiled. "Of trick?"

He bit his lip. "We're not the same. You…"

"Not the same?" The parasite chuckled. "Perhaps. But if not, the answer to your question is that I am inside you thoroughly and utterly. That is how I know what your reasons for protecting that little girl are. She means nothing more to you than—"

"Stop!"

An instant after he said it, Bill realized what tone he was using. With a tired sigh, he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands.

"Please," he said in a far gentler tone. "Please don't."

"Don't what? Read the truth in your mind? Oh, come now, child, we can never have secrets between us."

The parasite curled around Bill's feet like a cat. There, it closed its eyes and waited for a response. For a long moment, its host said nothing. Instead, a single thought floated through his mind.

_What do you want from me?_

A grin crossed the parasite's face as it reached into Bill's thoughts. Not a word would be spoken between them, but the messages still floated through Bill's mind clearly.

_Now, you begin to understand,_ the parasite replied. _From you, I want nothing but my survival. I would have died, had you not stopped that day. For that, I give you my thanks._

Bill couldn't help but grin. _Is this how your species typically gives thanks?_

Another chuckle rose from the parasite. _Ah, sarcasm. You are indeed bright for your kind. Regrettably, I cannot leave you as you wish. If I were to do so, _you_ would die. Therefore, we must make an agreement now._

_An agreement?_ Bill furrowed his eyebrows.

_It will require no further sacrifice on your part,_ the parasite promised. _All that I ask is that we continue to live in this arrangement. You will share your body with me, and I will do what I can to keep the two of us alive._

Bill closed his eyes. _I don't entirely understand. It's in your power to take full control of me. Wouldn't that make it easier, rather than try to negotiate?_

The parasite sighed. _I will not lie to you. If I could, I would have the moment your physical transformation was complete. However, something inside you has prevented me from doing so._

"Something inside me?" Bill opened his eyes. "What?"

The parasite opened its eyes. Slowly, it uncurled itself and crawled onto Bill, pinning him to the tree. The tail snaked its way up his body to his chest, where the tip hovered over his heart for a moment. Bill looked down with wide eyes, just before the tip thrust itself into his flesh. He felt something wrap around his heart and squeeze.

Intense pain shot through his entire body, and he doubled over as his throat strained in a silent scream. Tears ran down his cheeks as he struggled against the parasite's hold. The creature's claws pinned his wrists to the tree, leaving him unable to so much as move for those brief moments of blinding torture.

It only lasted a few seconds before the parasite finally withdrew, but for Bill, it felt like he was on the brink of death for hours.

"That," it said. "You, unfortunately, are dreadfully mortal – and a weak mortal at that. If I push myself onto you too quickly, you will die, and then you will be of no use to me at all. At most, I can only make you comfortable in our arrangement. Perhaps you have already noticed a slight change to your waking mind."

Bill stared at the parasite through bleary, tear-flooded eyes. Although he felt too weak to respond, a realization dawned on him.

"Yes," the parasite replied grimly. "That is me bleeding onto you. It is for _us_. If your mind remains as it is, you would have refused to hunt, is that not true? You would have refused to fight the others to protect yourself. You – the true you, before we became one – are a danger to the both of us."

Bill struggled to open his mouth and speak, but all that came out was a hoarse breath. Instead, he opted for the same mental channel he'd discovered moments ago.

_Kill me._

The parasite grinned and pulled itself away from him. "Kill you? Were you not listening a moment ago? If you die, then I will die too. Upon the death of my host, I will need to find another within a short time frame, or else my children would hatch and devour me. And who would be a suitable host if you should die? Your sister, that trembling twig of a girl? Or perhaps that police officer, as naïve and stupid as she is. No, you are my host, and you will be my host for as long as possible. You are my best possible choice right now."

It stood, leaving Bill slumped at the base of the tree. With a smile, it tilted its head and studied him closely.

"Besides, you are a very fascinating creature," it said. "And your freedom of thought is refreshing." It turned away to stare into the endless forest. "Tomorrow, I will teach you how to fight and hunt properly. I will tell you when. Until then, carry us."

With long strides, the creature walked briskly into the forest and disappeared behind a tree. Bill lay where he was, breathing heavily as his heart beat frantically against his ribs. Above him, he heard a great crack, and looking up, he saw the branches of the tree bend downward, reaching towards him until it obscured his vision in black.

---

"Bill? Bill!"

The first thing he felt when he awoke was the distinct sensation of being shaken. His limbs felt numb, and a dull ache radiated from his chest. Despite that, he could feel a pair of hands on his shoulders, moving him roughly. Slowly, he opened his eyes. His vision resolved, and in the gray of the early morning, he saw Veronica kneeling over him and Rose standing above him.

He exhaled and blinked.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You were moaning and tossing. Are you sick? I mean, do we need to find a pokémon center? I don't think I can take care of you myself."

Bill squinted. His mind still felt muddled with a dream that was fading as quickly as it came. For a beat, he tried to make sense of Veronica's question until finally, he understood and shook his head.

"No. I'm… I'm fine," he muttered. "It was just a nightmare."

Gently, he pulled himself away from Veronica and forced himself to sit. A clawed hand reached up to rub his head. The fingers spread around the base of a horn and felt the wires – already inches in length – under the metal armor. Part of him felt disappointed that the dream wasn't real, that he was really no longer human in body.

"Are you sure?" Veronica asked as she knelt beside him. "You looked like you were in pain."

Bill smiled. "It was a rather vicious nightmare."

Veronica straightened. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The smile faded slightly. Bill contemplated telling his companions about what he saw, about the parasite's mind trying to intrude on his own. For that moment, he felt it watching him from inside, but at the same time, he felt another stare outside. Looking up, he saw Rose, her eyes wide and her feet taking small shuffles backwards. At once, the smile returned.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'd rather not."

Veronica frowned and then sighed. She stood and walked to the campfire, which, in the cold of the morning, had dwindled to only a few small embers. With a shrug, she moved around it to her pack, knelt, and began rummaging through it.

"We need to get you some clothes or something," she commented. "You're shivering. Here, I think I've got something. You want it?"

Bill glanced her way and grinned awkwardly. He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a howl filled the air. All three travelers stopped and looked skyward, but only Bill knew what it really meant.

"They've found us," he whispered.


	9. Eight: Happy Blossom

Eight  
(A happy blossom hears you sobbing.)

The screams continued as the group walked quickly along the bottom of a canyon. Veronica held Rose's hand firmly as her eyes moved from the sky to her alien companion every so often. He said nothing since they'd left the campsite. His own eyes were steady on the path, and his face was tensed in an expression of serious concentration.

"Are they getting closer?" Veronica asked.

Bill shook his head. "They think I'm hunting you, so they're lingering behind."

Veronica blinked. "You can understand them?"

He lifted his chin slightly and narrowed his eyes at the sky. "No, the parasite can, but it translates for me."

In response, she gave him a strange look. "The parasite? You mean it's got a mind of its own?"

With a nod, Bill replied, "It's strange, but think of it like… there's a voice in my head that tells me things about myself. That's what guided me to fight against those other ixodida, and it's what's telling me what they're—"

Abruptly, he stopped when he noticed Veronica was no longer beside him. He turned and found her staring at him with a blank expression. Realizing the problem, he shifted on his feet and rubbed the back of his head.

"That sounded a lot saner in my mind," he mumbled.

Veronica quirked an eyebrow. "Did you run it by the voices in your head first? Sometimes, second opinions help."

As an embarrassed flush colored Bill's face as he turned away. He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, a cry rose not far away. All three travelers immediately froze. As it faded, Rose pulled herself closer to Veronica.

"Another ixodida?" Veronica asked.

Bill shook his head. "No. Something else."

Without putting too much thought into what he was doing, he started towards the scream, leaving Veronica and Rose behind. Veronica jolted, watching him run.

"So you're going towards it?!" she snapped. "You don't know what's over there! Get back here!"

He disappeared around the corner without a response.

Veronica gritted her teeth. "Bill!"

When he didn't return, she turned to Rose. The girl stared at her with wide eyes as her small hands grasped her shirt. At that, Veronica sighed.

"Sorry, kid," she said. "We'd better go after him before he does something stupid."

With that, she squeezed Rose's hand and started forward.

---

It took Bill a few minutes of winding through canyon paths before he finally found the source of the sound. When he did, he stopped short, and his eyes widened in shock.

The path split into a fork. One end wound out of sight around the rock walls. The other, which Bill faced, was considerably shorter and tapered into a dead end less than twenty feet from him. On a rock beside the end stood a male numel; his stubby feet scrambled to keep his balance on the rock as his small mouth bleated scared cries. Between the numel and Bill, a sea of red pulsed. The closest parasites attempted to climb the rock, only to fall off either by themselves or after being struck by small balls of fire shot from the terrified camel's mouth. They squealed, fell into the sea, and tried to remount the rock as if nothing had happened.

In his head, Bill heard the parasite's voice.

_Well, this is certainly a predicament._

Bill furrowed his eyebrows. _We should help it._

_Mm. We should?_

As if ignoring the voice, Bill glanced at the sea again. _Maybe I can chase them away._

He took a step forward but stopped when he heard footsteps and a gasp behind him. Wincing, he turned and glanced at Veronica and Rose, both of whom stared at the sea with wide eyes.

_Ah,_ the parasite said, _now things are a bit more interesting._

Ignoring it, Bill held up a hand with his palm turned towards the girls. "Stay there. Don't move."

"What are you doing?" Veronica hissed. "We've gotta get out of here!"

Seemingly unaware of what she had said, Bill turned towards the rock walls, looking for a way to climb up. The walls, unfortunately, were smooth. A narrow ledge, not even large enough for more than one person to stand on, laced along the right edge a few feet from the canyon floor. Narrowing his eyes, Bill pulled himself onto the ledge and carefully edged his way towards the numel.

"Bill!" Veronica hissed. "What are you doing?!"

"I can't leave this numel here," he replied.

Veronica frowned. "Why don't you just walk through? They won't bite you, right?"

"They'll run, and the only way out is towards you."

Without another word, Veronica watched as her companion reached towards the camel. The numel swiveled his head towards him and, at the sight of claws edging closer, opened his mouth to release a loud bleat. Fire flashed from its throat and blasted past his jaws in three balls of flame. Bill flinched, shielding himself with an arm to let the flames flash across his metal skin instead of his face. Underneath his armor, nerves flared, and blinding pain washed from the tips of his fingers to his shoulder. He felt as if the appendage was on fire, even after the flames died. For that reason, he lost his balance and fell into the sea of red with a cry.

At once, Veronica pulled Rose close as her eyes widened. "Bill!"

He felt the parasites scratch at his armor and skin. Red flashes flared around him as he lifted his head.

"Run!" he shouted.

The sea parted in a circle, washing around the rock and outward towards the opening. Veronica only hesitated slightly before rushing back up the path, pulling Rose with her.

As soon as they moved, so did Bill's good arm. He realized with alarm that he couldn't feel it, much less control what it did. It rose, palm facing one of the rock walls by the opening. A white light gathered in front of his hand until a beam blasted from the gem in its center. The light struck the edge of the opening, blasting rocks from near the top of the canyon wall before doing the same to the other edge. In seconds, a rock slide blocked the opening, and the parasites beneath the fallen boulders squealed in death. The others pooled before the wall and flashed red light.

Shaking, Bill pulled his arm back. Feeling gradually returned to it as he turned over his hand. In the palm, the jewel faded from a bright white to a blood red.

"What?" he murmured.

_One of our powers,_ the parasite replied. _I will explain later. Save the creature. You came for it, did you not?_

Bill turned to see the sea of red gathering at the rock once more. The numel cried loudly as it scrambled to the peak of his perch. Drawing in a breath, Bill crept forward, cautiously as he steadied his eyes on the creature.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he said. "Please let me help."

The numel looked up and, without hesitation, shot fire from his mouth at his rescuer. With a gasp, Bill dodged the fire but not the heat. His side seared, causing him to flinch and fail to dodge another volley. Fire hit his chest, sending him to his knees. A hand rose to touch the spot gingerly. It felt soft beneath his claws – melted. With a gasp, Bill winced.

_What should I do?_ he thought.

He watched helplessly as the sea lapped the rock and attempted another climb. The numel bleated, its legs frantically flailing for a higher perch. Resolving himself, Bill pushed forward slowly and carefully. With a sharp cry, the numel fired more balls of flame at him. Flinching, he shielded his chest and face but felt fire lick his arms. The pain steadily increased, and he felt as if at any moment, he would drop in torture.

By some miracle, he pushed himself to the rock. His arms reached to take the numel, to which it responded by firing another Ember into his stomach. Bill winced and bit back a scream. His vision blurred, but he forced himself to stare at the yellow blob in front of him. With another deep breath, he grabbed the creature by its sides and hefted it over a shoulder. The camel kicked, screamed, and blew fire at Bill as he turned and walked to the rock slide. Beneath his feet, the parasite flashed and pooled around his ankles like dogs waiting for their master to drop a plate of food. Several times, Bill nearly did just that before, finally, he reached the rock wall, climbed over it, and collapsed on the other side.

Bill lay on the ground just beyond the block. He inhaled ragged breaths as the creature he'd saved stumbled away from his shoulder. The numel shook on his stubby legs and glanced back. A flame flickered in his mouth, prepared to finish his enemy off. Before he could attack, however, a green hand reached down and slammed its head into the dirt.

Another pair gently lifted Bill from the ground and turned him over. Above him, a human face floated, but it was framed by vine hair and a green neck. A pink flower decorated one of her green shoulders. Its petals quivered to release a sweet fragrance. Fingers gently ran along the half-melted spots of Bill's armor, and with her touch, Bill took a shuddering breath at the sharp pains that radiated under her claws.

"Burn," she murmured.

He couldn't respond. Instead, he watched as the flower opened and emitted a warm breeze from its golden heart. Bill couldn't help but take it in, inhaling the sweet and spicy aroma. At once, he felt calm as a warmth spread through his entire body. He could feel the pain ebb away and his armor work on reinforcing itself.

"Thank you," he whispered.

The female carefully placed him on the ground as her blossom closed. Her hand ran along his tail. The sensation sent cold pangs up Bill's spine, but he didn't stop her.

Suddenly, she looked up as her companions, two other green ixodida, leaned over the numel.

"Stop!" she snapped.

The pair looked up as their vine hair flicked and curled around their heads like Medusa's snakes.

"His!" she hissed. "Hurt for it!"

One of the others snarled, "Injured. Ours now."

The female reached for his tail and pulled it up for them to view. He winced but watched as she presented the arrow tip.

"Monarch!" she snapped. "His!"

The other two ixodida glanced at one another. Then, both leaned back. The quiet one opened a blossom on her stomach and spewed a blue powder from its core. The numel, realizing what it was, flailed under the hands of the other. His head gained a shimmering coat of blue, and because of that, when he was unable to hold his breath for much longer, he was forced to breathe the powder in. For a few moments, he continued to struggle until finally, he slowed. His eyes closed, and his body went limp. Then, the female holding the numel down, the one Bill presumed was the leader, stood.

"Take to clan," the leader said. "Him too."

The quiet one scooped the sleeping numel in her arms. In the meantime, the leader moved to Bill's feet. As the first picked him up by the shoulders, the other took his legs.

Then, much to Bill's surprise, all three sprouted pink insect wings from their backs and took flight.

---

Veronica had many definitions of the word "screwed." Light bulbs were one. Her ex-boyfriend, as much as she didn't like to think about it, for another. Coming in late to work got her screwed, and so did getting disarmed by a gang of thieves when her backup was across the city.

Facing three ixodida with one growlithe, however, was something she decided deserved a whole new level of screwed.

It hadn't been long at all since Veronica led Rose away from the dead end. She paused only briefly to consider running back to help her companion, but as soon as she turned to head back, hands seized her, tore her away from the girl, and lifted her into the air. Before she knew it, she was dropped on top of the cliffs, high above the floors of the chasms. Rose was dropped next to her, and the pink-winged ixodida landed, staring at the two of them with dark eyes.

All Veronica could tell was that they were waiting, judging by how still they were for those long moments. She couldn't determine much more. All they did was stare at her intently without making another sound or move. Veronica only put up with it until she realized none of them were about to attack her. Then, she dropped her pack on the ground, pulled a ball from a pocket, and released her only pokémon partner. Rose drew close to Veronica as the officer's growlithe appeared in a flash of light. In response, the flowers dotting the ixodida's green bodies opened and spewed blue powder.

"Sleep Powder," Jenny gasped. "Rose, cover your mouth! Growlithe, Flamethrower!"

Both girls immediately covered their faces with their hands and backed closer to the cliff behind them. In the meantime, the puppy opened his own mouth and exhaled a jet of fire that cut through the cloud of powder. Flames engulfed the ixodida in front of him, and instantly, her leafy body caught fire. At once, she screamed and writhed, dancing in the flames until she finally collapsed in a burning heap.

Meanwhile, her sisters' vine hair lashed out to ensnare the distracted dog. He yelped as the tendrils lifted him into the air and slammed him into the ground. Another cloud of blue plumed from their flowers, and Growlithe, unable to escape, could only inhale the cloud. Soon, a wave of weariness washed over him, and despite the jarring impact of his body hitting the earth, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Upon seeing her limp pokémon be thrown to the ground one last time, Veronica's eyes widened.

"No! Growlithe!" she shouted. "Rose, you've got pokémon, right?"

She turned to find the girl wide-eyed and whimpering. With a frown, Veronica drew her gun from the holster hidden beneath her shirt and fired several rounds. Each bullet hit the grassy bodies, but the sisters only flinched as they started forward. Meanwhile, every hole in their flesh closed as quickly as they were made. Soon, Veronica's gun clicked uselessly in her hands, and her eyes widened as she backed towards the canyon.

Suddenly, a shriek pierced the air from above. Both the ixodida and the humans looked skyward to see three green figures descend and land between Veronica, Rose, and their attackers. One of the newcomers dropped a numel unceremoniously on the ground, but the other two carried a silver body between them. Veronica didn't need to see a face to feel her heart sink with hopelessness.

"Bill," she whispered.

"Monarch," one of the newcomers said. "Hurt. Burned."

One of Veronica's captors pointed to the fallen sister. "Burned."

The grass ixodida huddled together, gently placing their metal brother beside their sister. Veronica started towards them.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" she shouted.

Before she could take a step further, a volley of fireballs blasted between her and the fire sisters to engulf her growlithe. The sisters shrieked and whirled around to face the source of the flames while Veronica gasped and stumbled backwards. Her growlithe, meanwhile, took in the heat of the fire and howled. Fully awakened, he rose to his paws and glanced at the standing numel. Upon seeing his new partner rise, the camel snorted and aimed another volley of fire towards the closest sister.

Once again, she shrieked, but this time, she shielded her face with her arms. A second ixodida lashed at Numel with her vine hair, but Veronica's growlithe leapt forward, snatching the vines in his jaws. Pausing only to inhale, Numel blasted another firestorm from his throat to engulf the face of the ixodida. At that moment, Growlithe released, took a breath, and breathed his own fire into the sister's chest. For several moments, she was engulfed in flame until finally, her writhing stopped, and she fell to the ground.

With collective shrieks, three of the remaining sisters opened all of the pink flowers on their bodies and spun. A storm of pink petals flew in a rose-colored tornado towards both fire-types. The two creatures cried out as the petals whipped them, leaving cuts and welts across their skin.

"No!" Veronica screamed. "Growlithe! Flamethrower!"

The dog's ears twitched from within the twister. He reared back, inhaling through his nose. Numel eyed him and followed his example, bracing himself against the tornado and breathing in. Simultaneously, the dog and the camel exhaled fire to light the tornado ablaze. The sisters screamed as their attacks rose in a twisting pillar of flame to engulf them and burn off their flowers. As their blossoms blew away in showers of red embers, each sister fell into the inferno, their bodies burning until they turned black.

Then, the fire slowly died down. The ashes rained softly on the burned bodies of the sisters. In the center of the circle, Numel and Growlithe stood, still bleeding but otherwise calm. Veronica took a few steps forward but stopped when a groan rose behind the two pokémon. Slowly, Bill stirred, shakily forcing himself to his knees as a hand held his head. A smile crept across Veronica's face.

"Are all of you all right?" she asked.

Growlithe and Numel ignored her as they turned and growled at the awakened ixodida. Bill drew in a breath and struggled to stand.

"Whoa! Hey!" Veronica stepped forward to place herself between them. "It's okay. He's with us."

After a moment's hesitation, Growlithe relaxed. He barked towards Numel until, finally, the camel glanced at him and backed away. Veronica exhaled and continued forward to kneel and examine her injured dog. With a sigh, she drew his poké ball from her belt and recalled him.

"You missed all the excitement," she finally said to her companion. "Are you okay?"

Bill offered a weak smile. "I think so."

Before he could say anything else, a scream rose from behind Veronica. Both adults looked Rose's way to find her held by the last ixodida. The female's clubbed tail wagged as her mouth opened to expose glistening fangs. With a hiss, she leaned towards the shaking girl's neck.

A rush of fireballs slammed into the ixodida's side. She screeched as Numel closed his mouth. The ixodida's eyes widened as she lost her footing and pitched over the edge of the cliff. Although her grip on Rose loosened, she still pulled the girl with her before letting go of her arm completely.

Without much thought, Bill ran forward. He felt a rush of adrenaline course through his body as he quickly reached out to grab Rose's wrist. Unfortunately, he had no time to stabilize himself on the cliff, and before he realized it, he fell over its edge as well.

One arm wrapped tightly around Rose while the other flailed for holds in the cliff's side that weren't there. Rose screamed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. In the confusion of panic, only one word could flash through Bill's mind in response.

_Help!_

The parasite responded at once without speaking.

Veronica raced to the cliff and looked down at the distance between her and the canyon floor. A cold feeling seized her heart.

"Rose! Bill!" she cried. "No…"

The girl's screams stopped. For a moment, Veronica believed the worst as he heart skipped a beat.

Then, she heard a hum.

Slowly, the siblings rose from the canyon. Stunned expressions were etched on both their faces as Bill hovered to solid ground and let his sister down. When Rose was safe, Bill lowered softly to his feet. Behind him, something flashed until finally, they stopped. Four wings – long, silver blades – extended from his back. Glancing at them in shock, he breathed and fell to his knees.

Veronica turned and blinked. "I didn't know you could do that."

Bill smiled softly. "Neither did I until a moment ago."

Then, without warning, he pitched forward and planted his face in the ground. Veronica gasped and darted forward as the injured numel crept closer to Rose. Unaware of the camel's actions, the officer knelt beside the ixodida and turned him over, only to find his armor half-melted.

"No wonder you're so weak right now," she murmured as she rain her fingers over the deformed metal. "Great. We've got to get out of here before those things lay eggs."

She stood and tried pulling at Bill's arms. Veronica couldn't lift more than half of him off the ground before feeling her muscles protest. Exhaling, Veronica dropped him.

"Naturally, you're too heavy to carry," she muttered. "What now?"

Pausing briefly, she looked him over again and furrowed her eyebrows. Then, she glanced over her shoulder at Rose, who was feeding the numel one of the berries from Veronica's pack.

"Rose," Veronica said.

The girl looked up.

"You're a coordinator," Veronica continued. "Do you have a spare poké ball? I want to try something."


	10. Nine: Unfamiliar Ceiling

Nine  
(All I see is an unfamiliar ceiling.)

The jungle air felt heavy around him. Tall, red plants brushed against his shoulders, their stiff blades parting to make way for his body. He walked across the field with purpose, his feet pressing into the moist earth of the road as his eyes fixed on the glow of a city. For the umpteenth time, he adjusted the strap of a satchel on his shoulder. He knew he had only a few more hours before he found shelter at last.

A whistle sounded above him. Instinctively, he looked up at the red sky. Normally, it would have nothing but the brilliant sun and the emerald moon in it, but now, there were black stars – hundreds of them scattered across the red expanse above him.

Green light shone from each black star until the planet was engulfed in its glow.

A second later, the ground exploded.

---

Bill jolted and opened his eyes, but he knew he wasn't awake. He turned his head, watching green curls spill across his eyes as he stared towards the open window. For a moment, he watched as white curtains softly rustled in the warm breeze. His body felt heavy as he struggled to move, so all he succeeded in doing was lift his hands.

The movement caught the attention of the room's other occupant, who was soon staring down at Bill with an expressionless face. It took a moment for Bill to finally turn to glance at the parasite.

_That dream,_ he thought. _I was…_

It nodded in response. "You were remembering something."

_What?_

The parasite closed its eyes. "Something ancient."

Its fingers reached down to caress Bill's stomach. Instantly, a sharp, stabbing pain radiated from the spot. He couldn't scream, but his mouth fell open in a silent gasp as he felt his skin prickle and warm.

"Burns," the parasite said with a sigh. "I ask you to carry us, and you carry us directly into danger. Perhaps I should reconsider having you as my host."

Tears formed in Bill's eyes as the parasite touched the other places where fire had hit him. Each one began to feel warm, as if hundreds of hot needles were piercing his flesh.

_What are you doing?_ he asked.

The parasite narrowed its eyes. "You might as well know. When my kind fuses with yours, we grant you numerous powers to keep you alive. On our own, our parasite forms can lay fertile eggs, but those only hatch into other parasites. In order to rebuild our species, we need you to breed and produce eggs that will hatch into our true forms."

_Your true forms…_

"Did you think we all are tiny insects?" the parasite asked with a smile. "Those are simply our cores – storage centers for our memories, our thoughts, and our genetic codes. They are our second brains, only body parts in the same way your arm is not your complete you."

Bill glanced at his arm. He forced himself to lift it just enough to bring it into view. To his surprise, he watched as a burn – one the parasite had already touched – slowly shrank into healthy skin and tissue.

_What…?_

The parasite sat on the edge of the bed and propped its chin with a palm. "Rapid regeneration and healing. It is one of the many gifts we give our hosts."

Bill rested his arm across his chest as he stared at the ceiling in thought. _Flight… healing…_

"Overwhelming, isn't it?" the parasite replied. "All of these blessings and more that you have yet to find. Anything to keep you alive. My race is extinct otherwise."

_Extinct?_

It nodded. "That memory you experienced. That was the last moment of our planet before it was destroyed."

For a long moment, Bill turned the words over in his mind again and tried to recall the memory. Already, it was fading from him like an old dream. The parasite stood and began walking towards the window, and the further it got, the more Bill felt as if he was falling asleep again.

_Wait,_ he thought.

It looked over its shoulder. "Hmm?"

_What do I call you?_

The creature smiled. "Your kind gave me a name. Do you recall what those soldiers called the two of us before we were sent here?"

Bill furrowed his eyebrows as he struggled to remember. _Adam?_

"My kind does not normally name its people," it said, "but that name… I think I will take."

Bill closed his eyes and felt his mind drift away. _Adam… humans have stories about him. He's the first man._

Adam grinned. "So he is."

---

For a second time, Bill awoke. Once again, he found himself on a bed, staring at a ceiling. He shifted, feeling the soft mattress. His eyes closed, and he inhaled. It was the first time in a long time he felt genuinely comfortable.

Then, something jumped on the bed. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring at the face of a squirtle. At once, he drew in a startled breath as he tried to sit up, but before he could fully get up, he felt something stiff jam itself into his back. Pain radiated from his shoulder blades as he reached back and pulled the smooth object to the side. With one eye open, he glanced at it to find two silver blades.

_My wings,_ he thought. _Adam…_

Inside him, Adam stirred. _Just think about retracting them, and they will obey._

Lying back, he closed his eyes briefly and concentrated on the image of his wings disappearing. A pressure radiated from his back as he felt the blades draw themselves into two points near his shoulders. With what felt like a pinch, his wings disappeared, and all he felt beneath him was the mattress.

A sigh escaped his throat as he carefully sat up and glanced at the squirtle again. It tilted its head as it held up a small, silver thermos. Blinking, Bill accepted the thermos and stared at it for a moment.

"Thank you," he murmured.

Then, he twisted off the cap. Immediately, the scent of blood flooded his nose, and he flinched in disgust. At the same time, his stomach growled, and his body felt weak. Slowly, he turned back to it.

"All right," he hissed at himself.

He took a sip, feeling the blood slide down his throat and warm him from the inside. Within him, he could swear he saw Adam relax like a cat, curling around his mind with an internal purr. A wave of relief washed over Bill. He felt as if for the first time, the thing that shared his body with him would leave him alone, even for a moment.

Taking another sip, he glanced to the rest of the room. The bed was covered with a pastel-colored quilt, and that was only the beginning of how quaint the rest of the room was. A warm breeze filtered through the windows across the way, and the white curtains swayed with each zephyr. Shelves were built into the pale blue walls, and atop them were leather-bound books.

Then, he finally noticed he wasn't alone in the room. Beside him, in a wooden chair, sat Rose. He jumped, startled to see her without Veronica. She stared back at him with wide eyes and a small smile on her face. Squirtle jumped into her lap, and she wrapped her arms around it like a doll.

Bill blinked and took another sip. "Rosie, you surprised me. Are you all right?"

She nodded. That same smile remained on her face.

At that point, he began to feel slightly uncomfortable. "Where are we? Where's Veronica?"

Rose pursed her lips and lowered her eyes to her squirtle for a moment. Then, she turned her head to glance towards the door.

"Out there?" Bill replied.

She nodded and turned back to him. The shy smile returned once more. By then, Bill had to glance at her oddly.

"You're smiling," he finally said. "Is it because you're used to me now?"

For a moment, Rose looked down at her squirtle. She pursed her lips one more time before looking back to her brother as he took another sip. A broad smile crossed her face as she opened her mouth and spoke.

"Your wings make you look like a fairy."

Bill nearly choked on his drink in response.

---

The cottage sat beyond the canyons, nestled against a rock wall on a slope of grass. Forest stretched to the northwest, and to the south, there was desert. In the middle, just where the foothills stretched between the desert and the forest, Veronica found the cottage empty. The old woman who once lived there was completely gone, save for a hand in the front yard that the officer quickly buried before Rose could see it.

For the past several days, she had been hunting in the forests. With her growlithe by her side, she tracked down and slaughtered any wild pokémon she came across. Part of her felt guilt over what she was doing, if only because it was a crime to kill pokémon. Still, she knew if she didn't, her companion would die, and she and the girl would be as good as dead or infected.

At that point, she approached the cottage with a machop under one arm. The machop was already dead, its throat ripped open thanks to Veronica's growlithe. It was just a matter of taking it back to the cottage to drain its blood and figure out what to do with the rest at that point.

When Veronica reached the door, a cool breeze blew across the back of her neck, carrying with it the sound of a rustle. She stopped, glancing over her shoulder towards its source as her growlithe crouched low to the ground and began to growl. Narrowing her eyes, Veronica stared towards the trees near the cottage, but nothing out of the ordinary appeared. Shrugging, she opened the door and slipped inside, followed close by her dog.

With a sigh, she walked briskly from the empty foyer to the kitchen on the right. Carefully, she placed the carcass of the machop on the blue-tiled countertop, right next to the old stains from the day before then. Ignoring the splotches, she began to open the cabinets in search of bowls or cups – anything to catch the blood.

Behind her, Growlithe barked. She turned and found the dog with his fore paws on Rose's legs as she stood in the doorway. The girl smiled and bent down to pet the police dog on the head. With her own smile, Veronica turned from the cabinet with a bowl in hand.

"You look cheerful today," she commented. "What is it?"

Rose straightened and smiled at Veronica. "Nii-san is awake."

"You're talking now? That's good," the officer said with a blink. "Nii-san? You mean Bill?"

She nodded.

Veronica turned away and opened a drawer in search of a knife. "Good. Maybe we'll be able to get to Fallarbor once he's back on his feet." She paused, drawing a long knife from the depths of the drawer. "Go into the other room and keep him company, Rose. Tell him another cup's coming his way soon."

"That won't be necessary."

At the sound of the new voice, Veronica looked up to find Bill standing behind Rose. Slipping the knife back into the drawer, Veronica glanced at Rose.

"Why don't you go into the other room anyway?" she asked. "Go play with Numel and Squirtle for awhile. Bill's got to take care of this."

The girl nodded and moved past her brother and out the door. Bill watched her leave for a moment before stepping into the room.

"She's talking now," Bill murmured.

Veronica nodded. "Yeah. She calls you 'Nii-san.'" She motioned to the carcass. "Lunch?"

He smiled. "Yes. It means 'older brother.' Our mother taught it to her." Then, he hesitated as the question sunk into his head. "Lunch?"

"Mmhmm." Veronica motioned again to the carcass. "You really should feed. We're not that far away from Fallarbor, but it's not an easy journey, either."

She backed away from the counter to let him see the carcass. At once, his eyes widened when he realized what she was asking him to do. Then, he turned away.

"No, thank you," he said quietly. "I'm not hungry."

A frown crossed her face as she walked forward and blocked his way to the door. Her hands gripped both sides of the doorframe as he stopped short, drew in a breath, and turned. His movements, unfortunately, were a little too quick, and in the next instant, his back hit the refrigerator behind him with a bang as his vision swam. Closing his eyes, he reached up to hold his head. Veronica took notice at once and narrowed her eyes.

"You haven't even recovered all the way," she said. "You need this. You know you do."

He shook his head. "No, I'm all right. I just need a moment."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Sure you do. And I can breathe underwater. Listen, you'd better go over there and drink, or I'm going to pin you down and force that body on you."

Bill drew his hand away from his head and glared at Veronica. "Would you not put it that way? Rosie can hear you."

"Get your mind out of the gutter. She's eleven."

For a long moment, the two stared at each other with hard glares in a silent battle of wills. After a few moments, it was Veronica who won as Bill sighed and turned away. He walked quietly to the counter and stared at the body for a moment before glancing back at Veronica. She raised her eyebrows and nodded towards him.

"I'd rather you didn't watch," Bill said. "Could you…"

"No, I can't," Veronica replied. "If you're going to be a baby about this—"

Bill straightened. "I beg your pardon?"

Veronica smirked. "You heard me."

In response, he raised an eyebrow. "You're being rather forward today."

"Well, you deserve it," Veronica replied with a shrug. "Look, we need you fully recovered if we're going to start for Fallarbor anytime soon. We're not that far from it. We just need to head west from here, past the ash fields. But even if it's not far, it's not going to be easy. From here, the entire place is covered in ash from Mt. Chimney, and there's no alternate route. We could be ambushed at any time by anything, so we need all of our pokémon in fighting condition."

Bill frowned slightly at the thought of being called a pokémon. As a human, he would have taken it as a compliment, but now that he was stuck as he was, the term seemed less appealing. Still, he couldn't argue against it. Instead, what made his hands curl on the counter were the last three words Veronica had said.

"Fighting… you want me to fight?" he whispered.

"Um… yeah?" Veronica raised an eyebrow. "You _are_ an ixodida. You've got powers, don't you? You're just as good a defense as the other pokémon are. Probably even better than my gun at this point."

A cold, uncomfortable feeling settled in Bill as he looked away. "Veronica… I can't actually fight."

After a beat of hesitation, she furrowed her eyebrows. "What? What do you mean? I saw you in Mau—"

"That wasn't me." Bill sighed. "Do you recall how I said I can hear the parasite inside me? Occasionally, it takes control. That… that was one of those times."

Veronica stiffened. "You mean, when you went completely insane and tried to maul that other ixodida…"

He nodded. "That wasn't actually me."

"Shit."

Bill looked up, giving Veronica a forced smile. "I know."

Veronica's arms loosened. "So… you're basically useless unless that thing is in control of you?"

At that, Bill raised an eyebrow. "I find it ironic that I tell you I have a homicidal second personality in a body well-equipped for lethal damage, and the thing you're more concerned about is the fact that I can't fight unless it's dominant." Then, after a beat of pause, he added, "No, I don't know how to access any of its attacks."

She shrugged. "Well, you – or, well, that thing – never hurt Rose or me."

"It never had a chance," Bill said with a shake of his head. "What makes you think that if left unchecked, it couldn't attack you as well?"

"Growlithe and Numel." Veronica shrugged again.

Bill tilted his head. "How do you know they'll be able to protect you from me?"

"You're a steel-type."

With that, Veronica pulled away from the door and walked forward. Before Bill could realize what she was trying to do, she grabbed him by the arms and forced him to turn. When his back pressed against the counter, one of her hands drifted towards his stomach.

"We found you with burns on your—"

She paused and rested a hand where the armor had been melted over Bill's stomach. What she found instead was smooth plating, fully repaired as if nothing had happened. He looked down.

"Huh," she said. "It's gone."

Bill nodded. "It's… ah… it's apparently one of the powers the parasite has."

Veronica looked up, into Bill's face. He stared back as he felt the skin of his face grow hot in a blush. She raised her eyebrows and smiled as her hand trailed up his body to his shoulder. Biting her lip, she leaned in, pressing herself against him.

"You're… you're awfully close," Bill whispered.

"Mmm." Veronica grinned. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Bill swallowed hard and closed his mouth. He found he couldn't push himself to speak. Instead, he shook his head.

Veronica nodded. "Good."

And then, she grabbed one of his arms, pulled back, and swung Bill around until he slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the kitchen. He winced and slid to the floor, and once he hit the tiles, he opened an eye painfully and glanced towards Veronica. Calmly, she stood with her hands on her hips.

"See, that's why I'm confident we'll have no problem keeping you in check," she said. "Parasite or not, I can take you."

Then, she picked up the machop carcass, walked over, and dropped it onto his lap.

"Drink up, or the next place you're going is in the ceiling," she said.

He could only stare blankly at her for a long moment. Then, without taking his eyes off her or changing his shocked expression, he lifted the carcass and bit into its neck.

---

In the middle of the forest, all was quiet. The only sign of life, other than an occasional flash of red across the forest floor, was a shadowed figure sitting in the black branches of a tree. A faint glow from the screen of a laptop illuminated her pale face, and her purple eyes fixed on one of its windows as an image within it waited for her words.

"Adam hasn't moved for a week," she said. "He's still in that house on Route 111."

On the other end of the connection, Nettle frowned. "Yes, the tracking device could have told me that. Are you ready?"

"Almost," the grunt replied. "I just need to test it."

"Test it on Adam," Nettle hissed.

Although the subordinate wanted to cringe, she managed to keep her composure and nod instead. "Yes, ma'am." Then, after a short pause, she added, "Ma'am, if I may ask, why am I reporting to you instead of an officer or the boss?"

Nettle closed her eyes on the screen. "Adam was assigned to me by our leader as my personal project, and I would find it more productive if you didn't question my authority."

The grunt nodded again. "Yes, ma'am."

"Be ready and attack tomorrow evening," Nettle added. "Report to me only after you've gotten the results."

Before the grunt could respond, the window went blank as Nettle cut off the call. The Rocket frowned and turned her head to glance at the hulking shadow beside the tree.

"Well," she muttered, "tomorrow's our big day."


	11. Ten: Teach Me

Ten  
(You teach me, and I'll teach you.)

A zigzagoon lifted her head to the sky. Her dark eyes blinked as she sniffed the crisp, afternoon air. Although her ears twitched and strained to listen to her surroundings, she heard nothing but the wind. The forest had been silent since the red things and the monsters had appeared. She had seen many members of her kind die to the strange creatures, but with nowhere else to go, she did her best to survive where she was. At least there was more food for her.

Stopping at the base of a tree, she sniffed at a patch of orange mushrooms. Deeming them to be edible, her sharp claws scraped at the dirt around them. Just before she successfully dug them out of the earth, she stopped. Her ears twitched again; she could have sworn she heard something clicking not far away. With a snort, she moved, prepared to dash deeper into the forest.

Then, a silver hand came down hard on her back.

Bill emerged fully from his hiding spot in the brush beside the tree. He had been waiting for something to come along for the mushrooms for half the afternoon, and now, he stared at his catch as she struggled under his hands.

"I'm truly sorry," he whispered. "Please forgive me."

In response, the zigzagoon lifted her head and whined. Bill flinched, his tail wagging in annoyance. That was the worst part of hunting: the crying. His victims always cried. It almost made him want to release his catch if it wasn't for the hunger he felt.

"Please don't do this," he murmured. "Please. _Please_ be quiet."

His hands tightened around the raccoon, causing her to yelp louder. He knew, however, that he wasn't the one controlling his fingers.

_Bill,_ Adam hissed in his mind. _Bite it now._

He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. Inside, Adam sighed.

_You are absolutely useless._

Bill felt himself bend and sink bared teeth into fur and flesh. One last scream blasted from the zigzagoon's throat before she fell silent. Slowly, he opened his eyes to watch his body feed on the limp pokémon on its own. Warm blood flooded his mouth as the creature fell limp, fainted from extreme terror. He closed his eyes again, trying to will himself away, but he couldn't force any part of him to move.

_Let me go,_ he demanded.

Adam's grip tightened on the zigzagoon. Beneath his hands, Bill could feel the raccoon's heart slow.

_Not until we finish,_ Adam replied. _You must learn how to drink on your own. You hunt, but you release everything you catch. You will kill us both if you continue to resist._

_You're killing it!_ Bill mentally cried. _Let go! Please!_

Adam opened his eyes and immediately narrowed them. _We have not consumed our fill in days. This forest is bare. We cannot let a drop go wasted, or we will go hungry._

_Must we drink _all_ of its blood?_ Bill asked. _Perhaps we can leave some for the zigzagoon to recover._

Adam withdrew and smiled. _Perhaps I can teach you the alternative._

Suddenly, a sharp pain laced through Bill's side as Adam released him. He found himself in control of his body again, except for the movement he felt just under the flesh covering his ribs. With a choked cry, he doubled over, pressing his forehead into the earth beside the body of the zigzagoon as his arms wrapped around him. Tears blurred his vision; he felt as if knives were trying to burst from his chest.

_Stop,_ he begged. _Please stop!_

The pain subsided, but Bill had no time to relax. Before he could recover, Adam forced him onto his hands and knees, bringing his face close to the zigzagoon's limp form.

_Drink,_ Adam snapped.

Bill hesitated for a moment. Then, slowly, he brought his lips to the wound and sucked on it. Blood filled his mouth and warmed him from the inside again. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on the carcass. Although her body was still warm, she didn't breathe, and her heart stopped beating long before Bill finally drained the last drop of blood from her flesh.

After awhile, Bill sat up and licked the remaining redness from his lips. He carefully maneuvered to lean against the tree trunk. The zigzagoon helped stem his appetite for that moment, but he knew it wasn't enough.

_That will be all for today, Bill,_ Adam said.

_Are you sure?_ Bill asked. _If we stop now, we'll need to hunt again soon._

Adam smirked. "Are you saying you _want_ to hunt now?"

It stood and began walking away from the zigzagoon carcass. In his horror, Bill realized belatedly that Adam had taken control, and upon that revelation, he frantically pressed his mind onto the parasite's.

_What are you doing?_ Bill demanded. _Let me go!_

Adam furrowed its eyebrows. "Stop that. I want to talk to you, but you get distracted when I give you control."

_I'll listen to you if you let me walk on my own,_ Bill growled.

"Do I really alarm you that much?" Adam replied with a chuckle. "I was reading your memories recently. You were a scientist, were you not? Your research methods were certainly interesting. I would have thought you would be thrilled to have me show you what being a monster truly feels like."

At that, Bill was shocked into silence for a beat. He felt violated – like every last secret he kept was suddenly out in the open for anyone to see. Even more than that, he listened to the way the parasite drawled as it described his occupation, what he did for a living and would have normally loved. His own voice gained a sarcastic edge as it spat at him. Briefly, it made Bill wonder if it was because the parasite could have grasped better what he struggled for years to understand, and that only led to the realization of how much he didn't know about the creature. It was a foreign mind inside his own body, and it simultaneously piqued his curiosity and incited a crippling sense of terror.

_Stay out of my head,_ he finally drawled.

At that, Adam stopped. A smile drew across his lips.

"'Getting inside its skin helps me get inside its head,'" Adam recited. "You said that once to a child. Do you remember? What if I wished to understand you? Would you not wish to understand me?"

It brought Bill's hands into view. Unable to do anything but observe the world as Adam saw it, Bill stared at his claws, still caked with brown mud from crawling around the forest floor.

"This may have originally been your body," Adam said, "but I created you. It is just as much your skin as it is mine. I can access your mind easily because it is a part of me. Yes, Bill, I am a parasite, and that means whatever is inside you is mine as well. However, you must make a conscious effort to get inside my mind. If you finally understand me, then perhaps, it won't be necessary for me to take control to force you to do something as simple as feeding." It closed its hands. "So, come. Do what you did with your ridiculous costumes."

_No,_ Bill responded. _I can't. I don't want to—_

Adam lowered its hands and glared to the side. "Why? Are you afraid of me?"

_I don't want to be a monster. None of my experiments ever hurt anyone._

"And no one will be hurt if you do exactly as I say," Adam replied.

_What about our victims?_ Bill asked. _We just killed an innocent zigzagoon. Don't tell me she didn't matter._

Adam scoffed and placed its hands on its hips. "We do what we must in order to survive. What is so difficult to understand?" It sneered. "You are truly impossible. Perhaps I should simply finish the process and replace your mind with mine."

_Perhaps it would be better,_ Bill replied. _I would rather die than kill a pokémon._

At that response, Adam narrowed its eyes. "And perhaps I should annihilate your mind in the process the way my brothers and sisters have done to their hosts. Then, if I truly wish to stop restraining myself for your sake, I will kill those pathetic females you cherish so much."

For a long moment, Adam stood, listening closely for any sign of its partner. When it got no response, it frowned and mentally reached into itself until it finally found its host, stunned into cold, silent fear.

Inside, Bill could feel the presence, even if he didn't have his physical form. It pressed against him on all sides, threatening to crush him at first. Then, surprisingly, it merely wrapped itself around him to envelop him in a sense of warmth and strength.

_What are you doing?_ he asked.

Adam shrugged and continued through the forest. "Getting your attention. I want you to understand something perfectly, Bill, and to do that, I want you to listen to every word I am about to say."

There was a short pause. Adam almost thought it had lost its host when finally, his voice responded.

_I'm listening._

Adam nodded. "Good. While you may not enjoy living with me, the simple truth is that until one of us dies, we will be bonded together. I intend on making this relationship last as long as possible, and furthermore, I doubt I will die before you do."

It hesitated when it felt Bill cringe inside. With a frown, it shook its head.

"Also," it said, "there are two possibilities for our relationship: entirely parasitic or entirely mutual. I can help you just as much as I can hurt you. If you wish for me to help you, you must understand that we are to work together, not separately. I am not one of your little Terran pokémon who exist only to serve you and fight for you. I am your benefactor. I exist to give you the gifts of my people and teach you how to use them. When you learn, I will teach you to combine your power with mine so we may live together – not as one creature leeching off the other or one creature cowering and the other fighting." It narrowed its eyes. "Do you understand? You must fight, or our relationship will only be detrimental. Either you will be my parasite, depending on me for every little thing, or I will be your parasite and take control of your body until I have no use for it anymore."

There was a beat of silence. Adam narrowed its eyes as it patiently awaited its host's answer.

_I understand,_ Bill whispered.

"Good." Adam fell into step again. "You have a question."

_What makes you say that?_

Adam didn't respond. Instead, he smirked and waited as a realization settled on Bill.

_Oh. Right. We're… we're linked._ He hesitated slightly. _Why are you doing this? Clearly, you can take control of my body if you wanted._

"Ah, yes," Adam replied. "You have asked this before."

_It hasn't killed me yet._

Adam shook its head. "No, it has not. However, I cannot maintain this state forever. Eventually, I will tire myself and retreat back to where I have been watching you."

_So, in reality, your only concern is that it would kill _you_._

The parasite laughed. "Ridiculous. And you call yourself a scientist. No, if I forced myself onto you, then, yes, something would break."

_Break?_

It nodded. "Yes. That is one thing my brothers and sisters fail to realize. Strength comes from the bond between the host and oneself, not control."

_I don't understand._

Adam narrowed its eyes. "You are a scientist. Figure it out." It paused. "You have another question."

_I don't like that you can do that. If you know I have a question, why not simply answer it?_

"Because you amuse me," Adam replied with a smile. "You have every opportunity to simply reach into my mind and find the answer, yet you refuse to do so, despite the fact that that is what you spent your time as a human doing." It shrugged. "However, I will respond to your question. Those females called us a monarch, yes, but a monarch—"

Before it could finish its sentence, a scream pierced the calm of the forest. Adam paused, straining its ears to listen. The scream was familiar, and judging by the feeling of its host cringing again within its body, it had a feeling it knew exactly what the scream was.

"Your sister," Adam said. "Shall we go?"

Bill didn't even hesitate before responding. _Yes! Go! Please!_

Adam flashed one last grin before bolting back towards the cottage.

---

"Growlithe! Flamethrower!"

A jet of flames blasted from Growlithe's throat to wash over a lumbering target. The target in question was a massive metal behemoth: a hulking, bipedal creature almost as tall as the two-story cottage. Its arms, tipped with large, red hands, telescoped as they swung upwards to block the fire. There was no head, just a mound with black, reflective glass across the front. On its chest, a bright red R glistened, as if the paint on it was still wet.

Upon the failure of the Flamethrower alone, Numel jumped forward – between the robot, Veronica, and a cowering Rose – to fire a volley of fireballs. Growlithe, without skipping a beat, blasted another jet. Both attacks combined into a whirling blast of light that washed over the robot, but it slowly crossed its arms in front of itself before snapping them to the sides. The fire dissipated, leaving behind its masters who stood stunned by the ineffectiveness of their assault. A laugh echoed from the machine.

"Is that all you've got?" it said. "Mecha Rocket, grab them!"

Both of its hands lashed towards the machine's attackers. Growlithe and Numel tried to race away from it, but the hands were faster. They came down hard on the fire-types and closed around them. Fire licked the behemoth's fingers, but it, unshaken, lifted its hands into the air and tightened its grip.

In the nearby bushes, Adam stopped. Both it and its host watched quietly as Growlithe and Numel struggled against the hands.

_Adam,_ Bill whispered, _what should we do?_

Suddenly, he felt himself be pulled forward, and he stumbled as he regained control of his body. With wide eyes, he straightened and glanced at the jewel in his chest.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

_I have stayed out for far too long,_ Adam replied wearily. _Besides, what better way to learn how to fight than to let you do it?_

"Me?!" Bill took a step back, eying the mechanical beast warily. "No! I-I can't! I'm not ready yet!"

He felt Adam settle in the back of his mind as a shiver ran down his spine. A weight of dread settled in his stomach.

_Just do everything I say, and neither us nor your friends... _Adam paused to flash images of Rose and Veronica through Bill's head. _...Will be harmed. What do you say?_

Bill flinched and held his head as he lingered on the images that Adam had shown him. He took one more glance towards the robot as it threw Growlithe and Numel into an opening in its stomach. As it reared back, a door slipped over the hole, and in the next instant, one of its hands reached out to grab Veronica. She yelled and turned to escape, but soon, she found herself kicking the arm as the fingers gripped her. As the robot lifted her off the ground, its fist tightened, and a piercing scream tore from Veronica's throat.

"Veronica!" Bill gasped. "Adam, what do I do?"

_Very good,_ Adam said. _First, let us learn how to fly. Imagine yourself with wings._

Swallowing, Bill glanced over his shoulder and tried to will his wings into existence. With a cold rush, they slid from the spikes on his back to form four metal blades.

_Feel their muscles. Do what comes naturally._

Furrowing his eyebrows in concentration, Bill mentally reached to the base of the wings. He lifted them, spreading them as he tried to get them to work. Their bases spasmed, causing them to buzz and whir. It took a few moments, but the air around them lifted him until he hovered an inch off the ground.

_Very good. Your body and tail serve to steer. Wherever you turn, your wings will take you._

With a nod, Bill swept himself away from the ground, nearly flipping over as he struggled to right himself and fly forward, towards the robot. By some miracle, he burst from the forest without smacking into the ground or the tree but instead darting in an erratic weave towards his target. For this reason, it took him several moments to finally reach the robot, and when he did, he brought his claws down to scratch the arm that held Veronica. Instantly, it released her, letting her drop limply to the ground. Without thinking, Bill stopped and hovered as he twisted to turn towards her unconscious form.

"Veronica!"

_Bill, you fool!_ Adam snapped. _Never turn your back on the enemy!_

He blinked. "What?"

Without warning, he was knocked out of the air by one of the robot's bulky arms. Slamming into the ground, Bill winced and retracted his wings. Carefully, he turned over and forced himself to sit up. The robot started forward while behind him, Rose trembled.

"Nii-san!" she screamed.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Rosie, go back inside!"

With a jump, she nodded and darted for the door. Bill turned back just in time to see one of the hands reach for him. He gasped and scrambled to his feet, but he was too slow to run. Fingers tightly clasped around him, and he felt himself be lifted off the ground. The grip around him tightened until he felt his armor bend under it.

"Stardust Experiment 02, Codename Adam," the voice within the robot recited. "I've been waiting for you."

The fingers released him, and he fell to the ground. Gasping for breath, he struggled to his knees.

"You're weaker than I thought you would be," the voice drawled. "Well, then. That makes this easier."

At that, the robot reared back, its arms swinging backwards before lashing towards him. Drawing in a breath, Bill shielded his head with his arms. He silently prayed for protection, and suddenly, he felt every muscle in his body tense. The behemoth's hands struck Bill's arms but ricocheted to the side. Slowly, Bill lowered his arms and blinked when he realized that he hadn't sustained much more than a dent on his forearms in damage.

"Using Harden like a little metapod?" the voice drawled. "How cute."

Bill struggled to stand. "Harden? Did I do that on my own?"

Adam scoffed. _Yes. Congratulations. You figured out how to execute a useless maneuver._

"I wouldn't call it useless," Bill whispered.

The arms swung towards him again. With a gasp, Bill extended his wings and jumped upward to escape another strike. He flitted around and behind the machine to land by scraping his hands and knees onto the ground. With wary eyes, he gazed towards the behemoth.

_Adam, _he thought, _teach me another move._

_Metal Claw,_ Adam responded. _Extend your claws and imagine your energy flowing into them. You must focus, or it will fail._

Narrowing his eyes, Bill tensed his right hand and tried to do exactly as Adam had told him. He felt his claws tense until at last, they took on a white glow. In the meantime, the robot reared back, whirling around as it swung its arms outward. Before the mecha could hit him, Bill swiped, cutting through the air towards the oncoming hand. His eyes fixed on his target, the large metal palm almost as wide as he was tall. For a split second, he hesitated, uncertain about his attack. Then, furrowing his eyebrows, he pushed forward.

The arm literally swept him off his feet.

When he smashed into the ground for a second time, he looked up and blinked as his vision blurred for several seconds. Then, he shakily rose to his feet, paused for a moment to ensure that he was stable, and then raced towards the machine. It stood as he swiped at it in a frenzy, his hands flashing with white energy every so often. After awhile, he finally stopped, breathing heavily in exhaustion.

In response, the robot batted him away with an arm.

_I told you to focus,_ Adam hissed as its host slammed into a tree. _The moment your mind wanders, the power disperses, and the attack fails._

Groaning, Bill struggled to his knees. He was about to reply when a whir and a boom directed his attention back towards the robot. It was turned towards him, its arms swinging back for another strike.

Suddenly, something hit its shoulder with a plink. It paused, waiting until something else hit its shoulder. Then, it turned just enough for Bill to notice Veronica on her feet beyond the robot. She picked up another stone from the ground and threw it at the robot's mound head. It smacked the side of its metal frame, and with that, the robot turned completely towards Veronica.

"You little pest!" the voice snapped. "If you won't stay down, then die!"

As the robot's arms swung, Bill stared at its back. Suddenly, an idea hit him, and with that, he stood and darted towards one of the arms.

"Don't turn your back on the enemy," he murmured to himself.

He grabbed one of the arms and quickly climbed to the shoulder. The machine stopped, its second arm flying aimlessly over Veronica's head.

"What are you doing?!" the voice barked.

Bill wrapped his tail around the arm and straddled the shoulder as the mecha flailed its free arm.

"Focus," he whispered.

Clearing his mind, he concentrated until the claws on both of his hands began to glow white again. He swung down, slamming his hands into the robot's metal back. All ten claws pierced its armor.

"Hey!" the Rocket growled.

One arm finally flew up and smacked into Bill's side. With a yelp, he slipped from the shoulder to hang by his claws and tail. Furrowing his eyebrows, Bill planted his feet on the metal and pushed his claws down to cut long holes in the robot's back. The arm swung towards him again, and as he tried to pull the tracks apart to form a hole wide enough to fit through, the hand slammed into him from behind. Its fingers curled around him and yanked him off its back as he yelped and flailed in his desperation to get back to the hole. Instead, he was brought around to the front of the metal behemoth to stare into the black glass. With a wince, he grabbed the fingers around his waist and tried to pull them apart to work his way free. His struggling, however, only resulted in the machine gripping him tighter. He responded by gritting his teeth and tensing his every muscle again in another Harden.

"Where is that strength you had in Polaris Institute?" the voice asked. "Weren't you the one who tossed a rock-type twice your size into a wall?"

"What are you talking about?" Bill rasped as he strained to push the fingers open.

Another stone flew towards the mecha's face. This time, it hit its mark, and cracks laced across the black glass from the hole the stone left in the center of the panel. Veronica smirked.

"And that's how it's done!" she said.

The hands automatically opened, and Bill dropped once again to the ground. Its arms rose and flailed as the sound of the voice within the robot became distorted.

"Oh, you little twerp!" the voice shouted. "Smashing my mecha's visual censor like that!"

It stepped forward, beginning to lumber towards Veronica as one arm lashed forward with the intent on grabbing her. However, the hand planted itself in the ground several feet away, giving Veronica ample time to throw another rock into the black glass and run. The rock hit and pierced through into the robot's body. Something crunched, and in the next moment, the robot flailed wildly as the voice became even more distorted.

"Wha... app... ing?" it screamed, its every syllable fighting against bursts of static.

The doors in the robot's stomach opened, and Growlithe eagerly leapt into the open with a howl. Numel followed not long after, pausing only to glance cautiously upwards at the robot's flailing arms.

In the meantime, behind the behemoth, Bill stood and shook off the shock of nearly being crushed. Extending his wings once more, he flitted up to the hole he'd created in the monster's back. Pulling it open a bit further, he pushed himself in just enough to look inside.

Beams of light from the hole in the black glass filtered downward, revealing a bashed computer just behind the robot's visor. However, beneath that was a jungle of wires, looping in and out of a black box that hummed quietly. He narrowed his eyes at the box, realizing almost immediately what its presence meant.

"There's no one in here," Bill murmured. "Just an on-board computer."

Then, resolving himself, he pushed further into the machine, reaching up until he touched the black box – the object he knew to be the robot's core. Seizing it with both hands, he pulled down firmly. It tore free, sending a shower of sparks downward as he quickly pulled himself back out the hole. Crackling echoed from within the robot as it suddenly shuddered and froze. Bill paused briefly, waiting for something to happen. When he realized all was silent, he let his wings whir as he pushed off the robot with his feet. The robot, in response, fell forward onto its face. Veronica and the pokémon stood a short distance away, glancing first at the robot and then at Bill as he descended onto the robot's back.

"Not too bad, if I do say so myself," Veronica said.

Bill didn't respond. Instead, he stared at the box with furrowed eyebrows. His claws pried open one of the sides, just enough for him to see the circuit boards inside and another red R painted on the metal bottom of the box.

"What's with that look?" Veronica asked as she stepped forward. "We won, didn't we?"

Bill shook his head. "No. I think..." He looked up at her with a small frown. "I think we should move."

"Move?" She blinked. "Now?"

"As soon as possible."

Veronica tilted her head. "Are you sure you're up for it? You're still recovering, aren't you?"

"We don't have a choice!" Bill replied. "Veronica, this machine belongs to Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket?"

He nodded. "A criminal organization that—"

Veronica frowned. "I know who they are. I'm a cop, remember? I just didn't think they were in Hoenn."

Bill sat down and placed the black box in his lap. "Neither did I, but it seems they were searching for me."

Blinking, Veronica moved to sit beside him. "How do you know? It called you Adam, didn't it? Maybe they mistook you for someone else."

He shook his head again. "No. That's the name the National Defense Forces gave me. I don't know how Team Rocket got that information or how they found me, but they did." Looking up at Veronica, he furrowed his eyebrows. "Regardless of whether or not they're looking for me specifically, however, it's far too dangerous to stay here anyway. Now that they know someone is here, they'll come back."

"How do you know?" Veronica asked.

Bill raised the box. "I think the fact that we destroyed their robot is enough to assume that they don't have whatever they came here for."

"Oh."

He handed her the box, but his eyes remained on her for awhile. She studied it carefully, staring at the red R within it as she placed it in her lap.

"Okay," she said. "First thing tomorrow morning, we'll start out. Until then, we'll need to get some sleep so we'll be well-rested and recovered for the journey tomorrow." She looked up, intending on asking Bill for his opinion about her plan when she noticed his stare. "What?"

Bill looked away. "Your... um, the top buttons of your shirt must have come undone during the fight."

Raising her eyebrows, Veronica looked down to see that, in fact, her shirt was partly unbuttoned. With a grin, put the box aside and brought her hands to the cloth.

"Oh! Thanks," she said. "You know, Bill, I'm surprised you were looking there."

She glanced at him just in time to see him turn his head away with a blush. Her grin broke into a wide, mischievous smile as she touched his arm. When he turned back, she leaned forward and opened her shirt a little further.

"Here, have a better look," she offered.

Instantly, Bill pushed himself away as his face turned bright red. "What?!"

Veronica grinned and inched closer. "Aww, you won the fight, didn't you? It's only fair that you get a reward like a good little pokémon."

Bill jumped to his feet. "What kind of police officer are you?!"

Following him, Veronica stood and touched her chin with an index finger. "Hmm... either a good cop or a bad cop. I can't remember." She leaned closer to Bill. "Wanna help me figure it out?"

Instantly, Bill turned away and scrambled for the door. "I've got to make sure Rosie's all right."

Veronica watched him dash into the cottage and slam the door behind him. She waited for a few beats as she listened to the silence that ensued. Then, she sat down on the robot, crossed her legs, and buttoned her shirt.

"He's a virgin," she said to herself.


	12. Eleven: My Thoughts

Eleven  
(My words fly up; my thoughts remain below.)

Nettle crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. For someone who had just told her superior that she was responsible for the loss of a several-million-yen giant robot, she was feeling comfortable and calm. On her desk, the computer was on, and through it, she spoke to a man – the aforementioned superior – on the other end of a call. One of his large hands stroked the head of his persian as he listened patiently to Nettle's next words.

"I assure you, sir, that the loss was worthwhile," she said. "We've gleaned quite a bit of information from our subject. He's a low-level XP-494B, capable of using Metal Claw, Scratch, and Harden. Other abilities include flight and an unusual recovery time."

The man paused. "Frankly, Professor Nettle, I hardly care about any of this information. The entire point of the experiment was to uncover information concerning his psychological state. Were you or were you not successful in this endeavor?"

Nettle hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, sir. Mecha Rocket Alpha's on-board computer managed to record and transmit both video and audio of the struggle until it was disconnected. I've taken the liberty to analyze the recordings."

"Well?" he growled. "What were the results?"

"The creature seems human in mindset," Nettle replied after a short hesitation. "Allow me to send a clip recorded after the onboard computer was removed from Mecha Rocket Alpha."

Nettle pushed herself forward, just enough for one hand to reach the mouse. She trailed the cursor over the window, clicking on options until a window appeared detailing the transmission of a file. When the process was complete, the man tapped a key with a large finger on his free hand and sat back to listen.

_"What's with that look? We won, didn't we?"_

_"No. I think… I think we should move."_

_"Move? Now?"_

_"As soon as possible."_

_"Are you sure you're up for it? You're still recovering, aren't you?"_

_"We don't have a choice! Veronica, this machine belongs to Team Rocket."_

_"Team Rocket?"_

_"A criminal organization that—"_

_"I know who they are. I'm a cop, remember? I just didn't think they were in Hoenn."_

_"Neither did I, but it seems they were searching for me."_

The clip ended, plunging both rooms into silence. Nettle paused for a moment, resting her hands in her lap as she composed herself. In the meantime, she carefully eyed her superior, watching for any changes in his posture and face that may reveal his reaction.

"As you can see," she finally said, "he seems to have human knowledge of us. Likewise, in a clip I found inappropriate to send to you, he responded to his human name. Clearly, his state of mind during his time here has most likely resolved itself, and the mindset that possesses control currently is McKenzie's."

"I see," the man drawled. "Any idea if this resolution you've observed occurs with every XP-494B?"

Nettle shook her head. "Not yet. That's why we've created Prometheus, sir."

"Yes, Prometheus." The man leaned back in his chair, his free hand rising to his bony chin. "Tell me about him."

"The physical transformation is complete, sir," Nettle answered. "A fire-type. He's giving the staff a bit of difficulty to control."

"And his mindset?"

Nettle shook her head. "Deranged. We don't know yet if he went insane during the transformation, if it's the parasite, or if his mind simply hasn't resolved itself yet. We suspect it will still take some time to discern."

"How long?"

She tilted her head. "Perhaps another month. It took McKenzie roughly two full months before he adjusted, from what we can tell of the findings from Mecha Rocket Alpha."

The man frowned. "I suppose it would be too much to ask to find a way to speed up the process."

Nettle nodded. "Unfortunately, we're working as quickly as we can, sir. If we work too hastily, there is a risk we could kill Prometheus before gleaning any information from him."

"Hmph." The man leaned back and stroked the persian again. "Very well, then. Continue conducting your experiments and contact me when you've made progress. In the meantime, our field agents will have to keep an eye on Adam."

"Yes, sir," Nettle responded. Then, after a beat of hesitation, she added, "Sir, there is one minor problem."

He quirked an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Someone else is copying the data that the Committee is receiving through Polaris's computers. According to our computer technicians, whoever is doing it has masked themselves well, but we've at least been able to uncover a destination."

The man stopped. "And to where is the data being sent?"

Nettle frowned. "Pallet Town."

For a long moment, there was silence. Then, slowly, the man began to laugh. It started as a low rumble, but gradually, it ran through a crescendo until it filled the office. His large hand patted his cat just before she slipped away to hide behind his chair.

"Of course," he said. "The old man won't retire if one forced him. Well, then, Professor Nettle. What difference does it make if he watches the Committee's progress?"

Nettle stiffened. "Well, sir, for one, he may detect our movements, and—"

He waved his hand. At once, Nettle fell silent. She closed her mouth and waited intently for his next words.

"I have an idea," he said. "Why don't we have a formal liaison between Professor Oak and Polaris Institute – a partnership, if you will – for the purpose of obtaining the largest amount of information?"

"What exactly are you proposing, sir?" Nettle asked quietly.

The man grinned. "Professor Oak has an assistant, doesn't he?"

---

The wind blew to the north from the peak of Mt. Chimney, and because of that, clouds of ash drifted from the lava fields at its top to leave the grasslands to the east of Fallarbor coated in a thick layer of soft grayness. For some, it projected a feeling of tranquility with flakes falling like fresh snow gently to the earth. Others enjoyed rushing through it, brushing the green grass beneath it free from their dusty coats for a few precious moments. And for others, it was the ideal place to practice stealth, to hide among the ash piles for unsuspecting passersby – or, in the case of the occasional small pokémon, to hide from predators.

For that reason, it wasn't at all unusual for a spinda to wobble along and come in contact with a sandshrew. The latter's ears twitched, and he lifted his head to swivel his dark eyes towards the dancing bear. She stared at him for awhile with her spiral eyes, watching with a short giggle as the sandshrew rose to his haunches. One yellow paw reached down to the edge of his burrow in preparation for slinging some of the ash and dirt at the panda, but before he could, he turned his head away from her sharply, towards another form of commotion. Spinda turned herself in the same direction, just in time to see a cloud of dust rising in a zig-zag across the field not far away. A buzzing rose from it as it darted closer and closer to the two. With a pair of shrieks, the sandshrew and the spinda jumped into movement: the sandshrew frantically burrowed out of sight, while the spinda stumbled drunkenly away.

By some miracle, the cloud and the ixodida within it missed them both by a few seconds.

For the past three minutes, Bill had been in a frantic flight away from an attacker. It took two of those minutes to realize that perhaps flying low to gain cover by kicking up ash was a bad idea because it had the unfortunate side-effect of rendering him blind as well. The third minute was currently being spent trying to figure out how to gain altitude without slamming into the ground while at the same time avoiding obstacles he couldn't see. Needless to say, he quickly found he wasn't particularly good at the entire concept of flying.

Jerking to the side at the sight of a sudden shadow, Bill managed to miss a boulder by a few inches while at the same time clipping the ear of another wandering spinda with one of his wings. The latter tottered away with terrified cries while Bill found himself scrambling to regain balance. Unfortunately, physics won out, and he soon found himself tumbling head-over-heels for several feet as his wings uselessly beat against the ground. Finally, he stopped only by slamming his back upside-down against a rather large rock, leaving his legs in the air and his shoulders supporting him on the ground. For several moments, the impact left him silent as pain jolted through every part of his body.

"Remind me never to do that again," Bill murmured to Adam with a groan.

Slowly, he twisted, carefully pulling his legs back towards the ground as his hands pushed against the rock for support. He shakily rose to his feet and winced as he placed a hand on the small of his sore back. With shuffling movements, he turned just in time to see his pursuer hop into view.

The whismur stood a few feet in front of him. Her crossed eyes fixed on him as her small paws rose to her mouth. Bill froze, his eyes widening as he turned completely towards her. He lifted one hand, palm outward, as he backed against the rock.

"Now, hold on," he said. "I'm not ready to—"

She took a deep breath, opened her mouth as wide as possible, and screamed. Instantly, Bill yelped, covering his ears with both hands. The act left him without an anchor against the rest of the blast: the air itself as it vibrated in a wave. It crashed against him, launching him backwards, off his feet and into the rock behind him. He smacked into the hard surface and remained pinned until the whismur finally stopped. After that point, he fell limply to his knees first and then, finally, face-down into the ground.

Satisfied, the whismur closed her mouth. Bill turned his head, squinting as spots clouded his sight for a long while. He could vaguely make out colored blobs appearing in his line of vision, but it didn't register to him what they were until he heard a voice.

"How many does that make now?" Veronica asked. "Six?"

She knelt beside him. He heard something scrape – the sound of a cap twisting off the top of a bottle – just before ice-cold fresh water drenched his head. Jolting, he pulled away and struggled to force himself to his knees. He glared at her as he played with his soaked ear, trying to toy water out.

"Yes," he said dryly. "It's the sixth time. I never knew battling would be so difficult. Rosie's whismur is well-trained."

Veronica stood and capped the canteen. "Hmph. Don't blame the whismur for the fact that you're lame. It defeated you six times in a row, Bill."

Slowly, Bill forced himself to stand. "I'm still getting used to this part of being an ixodida."

In response, Veronica quirked an eyebrow. "You're bigger than it, and you have a type advantage. I think this goes well beyond needing to adjust."

Whismur turned and bounced back towards her owner, who was approaching from the way Bill had come. With a tilt of her head, she pulled herself up to sit on a large rock with Whismur in her lap. Her boot-clad feet swung back and forth as she fixed her eyes on her brother with a curious glance.

"Maybe if Nii-san tried only learning one skill at a time, he'd do much better," she commented.

Veronica snickered. "And you're getting reasonable advice from an eleven-year-old. You really suck at this, Bill."

He narrowed his eyes at her. However, before he could respond, he heard a voice in his head.

_Oh, human, if only you knew how I felt,_ Adam quipped. _You at least only have to watch. I have to suffer when he damages our body._

"Not you too," Bill whispered.

Veronica raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Shaking his head, he glanced at Veronica. "Nothing. The parasite was trying to tell me something."

She smirked. "He thinks you suck too, huh?"

Instantly, Bill blushed and glared at her. "I thought you were supposed to be supportive. Weren't you the one who convinced me to do this in the first place?"

She slung the canteen's strap over her shoulder, shrugged, and put her hands on her hips. "I'd be a bit more supportive if you actually listened once in awhile. After all, I was the one who told you not to fly this time."

"For the last time," he replied, "you are not my trainer. Until you capture me in a poké ball—"

Rose tilted her head. "Actually, Nii-san, that already happened."

A long moment of silence passed between the three of them. Slowly, Veronica turned her head towards Rose as she happily swung her legs back and forth. The whistling wind blew past, carrying with it whirling puffs of ash and the only form of sound until, finally, the former officer darted towards her.

"Rose!" Veronica hissed. "You weren't supposed to tell him that!"

Cringing, Rose's expression blanked. "I wasn't?"

Veronica clenched her teeth. "No! I mean…" Realizing what tone she was using at that point, she forced herself to soften her voice. "It's probably a bad idea. I mean, Bill…"

At that point, she turned towards her alien companion and stopped. Veronica had expected a look of shock, of betrayal, of anger, of an ocean of negative emotion that would have descended upon her in a blaze of uptight glory. After all, it was one thing to forget that a person was human, but, in Veronica's mind, it was a different thing entirely to capture them, own them, and treat them exactly as one would a growlithe.

So, when she looked over her shoulder at Bill's expression, she didn't entirely expect him to merely tilt his head and blink.

In response, Veronica tensed, clenching her hands into fists as she examined Bill cautiously. "What? Aren't you angry?"

Again, he blinked. "About what?"

Veronica's mouth fell open. "Um… about us… capturing you."

Bill rubbed the back of his neck. "When did that happen?"

He asked it casually, as if he was asking about the weather. Shifting on her feet, Veronica narrowed her eyes. A tight feeling was forming at the pit of her stomach – the kind of feeling she got when she felt like she was walking into an ambush.

"While we were going through the Valley of Steel," Veronica replied slowly. "You fainted then, remember? We had to get you out of there before those red things laid eggs in the ixodida or something." Then, her voice sped up a bit as she tacked more words onto her explanation. "It was the first thing I could think of, and I'm totally and completely responsible for this. I'm sorry."

"The Valley of Steel," Bill repeated as he tilted his head back to look at the sky. "Strange. I always thought there would be a distinct difference between being a wild pokémon and being tamed. This certainly sheds a new light on the subject."

Veronica stared at him for a long moment. In the pause, Bill glanced at her with a nonchalant expression. He didn't seem to notice her surprise.

"Anyway, I suppose this would make you my trainer after all?" he said.

For once, Veronica couldn't speak. Instead, Rose rummaged through her pockets and pulled a poké ball from one of them. She held it up to her brother as she tilted her head slightly. Glancing at it, Bill began to wag his tail as he put his hands on his hips. He could feel something radiating from it, like a tug from an invisible leash. Yet, even after he became conscious of that sensation, he still felt surprisingly comfortable.

"Oh, I see," he responded with a nod. "You are. Well, I suppose that's a bit more appropriate. You _are_ family, after all."

Finally, Veronica forced herself to speak in a murmur. "Bill… aren't you angry?"

"Huh?" He turned to her with another blink. "No, not at all. Why would I be?"

At once, Veronica's sense of disbelief pushed her over the barrier between mild shock to utter frustration. She knit her eyebrows as she opened her hands with the palms skyward. Taking a step forward, she opened her mouth, and the next words came in a high-pitched snap.

"Are you _serious_?" she asked. "I just get done telling you we captured you like a common pokémon, that you're right now owned by an eleven-year-old girl, and that a poké ball actually works on you, which means you're definitely not human, and your only reaction is—" She hesitated only because she struggled for a beat in figuring out how to best imitate Bill's accent. "'Oh, that's nice. Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?'"

Bill furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't actually sound like that, do I?"

Veronica growled in frustration, put her hands on her head, and turned away. "That's not the point, Bill, and you know that. The point is isn't this the part where you're supposed to freak out or brood over your sudden loss of humanity or get angry about the fact that I didn't tell you or something?"

He tilted his head. "While I'm a little disappointed that you didn't tell me, I don't know why you felt I'd otherwise experience this like that."

At his response, she turned to face him with narrow eyes. "Why are you so damn calm about the fact that we captured you?"

"To be honest, Veronica, I didn't notice that you did." He shrugged. "Besides, although I don't like the idea of studying the ixodida at the moment, I've always wondered what it was like to be inside a poké ball."

She smacked her forehead with her left hand, looked at the ground, and shook her head.

"What?" Bill asked as he stared at Veronica with a curious glance. "Haven't you ever wondered the same?"

Veronica looked up and crossed her arms. "How about we just wrap your training up for now and start heading to Fallarbor before it gets dark?"

Straightening, Bill nodded. "Oh. Yes, of course."

With that, he turned and started maneuvering himself around the rock. Rose pocketed Bill's poké ball and reached for another one to recall Whismur. Then, she slid off the rock to join him, clasping her hands behind her back. Veronica lingered a little before jogging forward and falling into step beside them as they began to walk through the ash fields.

"Hey, Bill?" she said.

He didn't turn to her when he responded. "Hmm?"

"You really creep me out sometimes."

In response, he merely smiled at her.

Meanwhile, perched on a cliff high above them, a pair of eyes watched. He shook his body, sending white ash and golden sand flying off his smooth, brown skin. Turning, he grasped the rock wall behind him with long, brown claws and slowly climbed up the face of the cliff.


	13. Twelve: Is Dead

Twelve  
(Fulvia is dead.)

Veronica soon learned that, even if someone seems accepting of his fate, it's incredibly difficult to force a stubborn and particularly proud being into an object the size of a baseball. Nonetheless, it took almost an hour of coaxing, pleading, and eventually threatening with violence to finally talk Bill into going into his poké ball before any one of their party could cross the town limits of Fallarbor. The former cop couldn't help but notice their traveling group was significantly quieter after that point.

Fallarbor Town, a spot of colorful buildings nestled in the valley between Mt. Chimney and the range of cliffs that marked Hoenn's northernmost edge, was still populated. Barely, but its people were still alive. Having remained mostly in Mauville since the beginning of the invasion, Veronica had no idea why this was, but frankly, it was the least of her worries. Right now, the most of her worries was fending off the questions and sympathy from her second cousin, who she found a block from the city limits and who was now walking her motorcycle beside Veronica and her small companion.

"I'm sorry to hear about Mauville City," Officer Jenny said for the umpteenth time since Veronica explained why she'd left her precinct. "You did your best, and that's honorable enough. If you'd like, we could get you transferred here."

"Not interested. Sorry, Pepper, but I've got things to do," Veronica replied.

The officer shrugged. "Suit yourself, but we really could get more help up here. Sue came up here last week, and – by the way, you've heard about Verdanturf, right? I feel sorry for those guys. The town was small enough as it was."

Veronica quirked an eyebrow. "Uh, Pepper? You were saying?"

Pepper straightened. "Oh! Right. Well, she came up here last week, but even then, we're overwhelmed. Are you sure you don't want to join us?"

She shook her head. "There's no ixodida up here, are there?"

Pepper grinned. "Not that many get close to town, thank goodness. I've heard the parasites stop at the ash fields, and the big ones don't have too much of a reason for coming up here except if they're trying to hunt for spinda. We're surrounded by mountains. Who's going to get us?" She paused. "But it's pretty bad outside of town. The ixodida apparently like hanging around Meteor Falls. We've tried to move everyone who's camping out around those fields and caves, but some of them are still down there." She stopped for a second time to shrug. "Anyway, what brings you here? It's a pretty desolate place to be just passing through. Looking for a place to relax from the invasion?"

"No, it's not that," Veronica answered. "We're looking for someone."

"Looking for someone?" Pepper blinked. "Who could you possibly be looking for all the way up here?"

At once, Veronica stopped. She tried to go over the names in her head, but she couldn't for the life of her remember what the name of the person was. She turned to Rose as the girl looked in wonder at the buildings around her. Reaching out, Veronica placed a hand on her shoulder, causing Rose to jump and turn her wide eyes towards her companion.

"Hey, Rose," she whispered. "Do you remember who Bill wanted to come here to see?"

Rose shrugged, shook her head, and looked away again. Straightening, Veronica put her hands on her hips.

"Hmph. Some help you are," she responded with a soft smile.

Pepper tilted her head. "Hey, Ronnie. Is there something wrong?"

"No," Veronica answered as she reached up to rub the back of her neck. "I just forgot who we're here for. That's all."

In response, Pepper nearly fell over her motorcycle. "Are you serious? You can't remember anything about this person? Maybe even why you wanted to see them?"

Veronica furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, my friend wanted to talk—er, _us_ to talk to them."

"Well, why don't you ask your friend?"

She shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "He's… not here right now."

"Hmph." Pepper looked skyward, at the bright, blue daylight. "Well, what do you know about your friend? Maybe something can give you a hint to the kinds of people he might know around here."

For a few moments, Veronica stood in thought. Then, she replied, "Know anyone a little weird and pretentious around here?"

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "No."

"Well, _that's_ a dead end," Veronica said with a sigh. "Mind leading us to the pokémon center? Looks like we'll need to place a phone call."

Pepper pointed a thumb down the road behind her. "Can't you do that from the station?"

Veronica shook her head. "No. Rose and I need a place to stay, anyway."

"You can stay at my place for the night."

Veronica smirked. "And can you treat our pokémon?"

Pepper raised her eyebrows. At that point, Veronica knew she won the argument. With a shrug and a sigh, Pepper turned away and began leading them down the road to the pokémon center.

---

Fallarbor's pokémon center was a lot like the one in Mauville, as Veronica noticed. Immaculate, tiled floors led from the door to the front desk, where a Nurse Joy was frequently working on paperwork via a computer. Behind the desk was a door to the examination and operating rooms. To the right was a waiting area, and to the left, a row of green public videophones, bookended by a PC on the far end and a clear tube that marked where the archaic transporter – the one that was in use just before the widespread installment of the PC Storage and Retrieval System – operated. Past the waiting area with its brightly-colored couches and wooden tables were doors: doors to the bathrooms, doors to the free rooms trainers could use, and the door to the dining hall. Even in the latter, with its maroon booths and the perpetual smell of fried eggs, Veronica had the feeling that if she magically switched the Mauville pokémon center with the one in Fallarbor, no one would notice.

But, of course, this one wasn't run by her best friend. It was Joy's sister-in-law, and that made it feel a bit wrong. Looking up from her work at the computer on the desk on the far side of the room, Joy watched Veronica and Rose approach. This Joy smiled sweetly enough. To almost anyone other than a Jenny or a Joy, that smile would have looked like the one on the faces of all the other members of the Joy family, but Veronica was different. She came from a family of nearly identical women, and with that, she grew up knowing how to tell nearly identical women apart. Her best friend in Mauville smiled with a sense of inner strength. This one smiled just to be sweet.

"Oh, hello!" she said. "Which one are you?"

The Joy was just trying to be polite. Veronica knew from her friend that Joys had the exact same potential to tell members of the Jenny family apart, and it wasn't as if she was an unknown figure within it.

"Veronica Jenny," she replied. "My precinct was Mauville City."

At once, Joy's smile faded. "Mauville City?"

Closing her eyes, Veronica decided to cut off the conversation before she had to explain why she wasn't on duty in her city. "My friend and I are taking a little trip. Don't ask. In any case, our pokémon could use some checkups. Would you mind?"

Joy blinked. "Your friend?"

At that point, Veronica opened her eyes and motioned to Rose, who was hiding behind the former officer. Slowly, Rose peeked around her companion and peered at the nurse with wide eyes. When Joy glanced at her and smiled, she jumped and hid herself partially behind Veronica again. Veronica looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh, she's not normally like that," she said. "I think."

Turning, Veronica leaned down. Her lips were next to the girl's ear, and even then, she lowered her voice to a barely audible level.

"Listen, Rose," she said, "she's related to the Nurse Joy you lived with for a little while. You remember her, don't you? Why don't you follow this one for awhile and let her look at your pokémon? I promise you, she's just as nice as the other Nurse Joy was, okay?"

Biting her lip, Rose looked at Joy again. Joy leaned against the desk, her smile broadening as she tilted her head slightly. Finally, Rose nodded.

"Good girl," Veronica said. "But just remember, don't let her see Bill. Keep him in your pocket until you get to our room, got it?"

Once again, the girl nodded. Straightening, Veronica exhaled and turned around to face the desk as she pulled Growlithe's poké ball from her pocket.

"Here we go," she said. "I've got a growlithe, and my friend has a few other pokémon. You wouldn't mind if she watched you, would you? Her name's Rose, and she could really use someone other than me to talk to."

Joy crossed her arms and leaned them on the desk. "Well, she's just the cutest thing! I don't think there would be any harm in letting her watch me go through routine checkups, especially if I'll be working with her pokémon. What do you say, Rose? Would you like to be my helper for the day?"

Quietly, Rose stepped around Veronica and approached the desk. Her lips were pressed together as she stared at Nurse Joy for a long moment. Then, slowly, she pulled four poké balls from her own pockets and nodded enthusiastically. With another smile, Joy took the balls both Rose and Veronica offered her and placed them on a tray beside the computer. Then, she walked briskly from behind the desk towards the door to the clinic.

"This way," she said.

Rose turned to Veronica one last time. A broad smile crossed the girl's face before she turned and scampered after the nurse. Shoving her hands into her pockets, Veronica watched them with a warm grin until they passed through the door. Then, the grin faded.

With a sigh, Veronica turned. Her steps were heavy as she crossed the waiting area and went through the open door to the dining hall. Pepper had disappeared into this room awhile ago, having promised to order them both a cup of coffee. Good to her word, the officer sat in a corner by a window, waiting for her relative to arrive, and on the table in front of her were two cups of black coffee.

Forcing a smile, Veronica approached and slipped into the booth, sitting down on the plastic seat. It felt entirely too familiar to her, but she knew it was in the wrong place and filled with the wrong people. It just wasn't Mauville.

Looking up from the cup of coffee in front of her, Pepper studied Veronica and raised her eyebrows.

"There's something wrong," she said.

For a beat, Veronica hesitated, wondering whether or not she should say anything concerning why the place disturbed her so much. Finally, she sighed.

"Ellen's dead," Veronica replied.

Pepper placed her cup on the table. "Ellen?"

"Dead."

"How?"

Veronica sighed. "A poison ixodida attacked her. She didn't get mauled, but she got poisoned."

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows. "And you told me the rest of your city's gone too. Did that poison…"

Veronica shook her head. "No. I shot one, and I couldn't kill the parasite in time. Its eggs hatched and finished the rest of us off. Except for that girl. Rose. She's a nice kid."

"She doesn't deserve to be here, though."

Pepper paused. A frown drew across her face, and she lifted a fist to pound it on the table. Veronica jumped and turned towards her cousin with wide eyes.

"Damn it!" Pepper snapped. "There's got to be something we can do to stop these damn things! They've got to have some weakness that can kill them all off in one shot!"

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows. "Aren't you getting a little excited? I mean, the big ones _are_ people at—"

She stopped. Her own words sounded strangely familiar to her.

"How can you say that?" Pepper asked. "The ixodida are killing us left and right! We can't just sit around and do nothing!"

It hit Veronica with the force of a stampeding rhyperior. Somehow, in the course of her time outside of Mauville, her perspective shifted. She wasn't a cop anymore. She wasn't the same person as the one who would gladly shoot an ixodida's claws off because it was a threat and chain another one to a monument to figure out how to kill it without letting the parasite hatch millions of eggs in its body. She no longer was the same kind of person as Pepper, the kind who believed the only way to stop the ixodida epidemic was to kill each and every parasite and infected human on the island.

Instead, she was like Ellen, the kind who looked into an ixodida's face and saw a person, the kind who only shot one as a last resort. She'd heard an ixodida's voice, watched him protect her, and saw him vulnerable in more ways than one. He was human inside, just like the other ixodida were nothing more than people who happened to be unluckier than she was. None of them deserved to die, especially because they didn't choose to become ixodida. They deserved to be…

"A cure," Veronica whispered. "That's what he's looking for."

Pepper, who had been ranting for the entire time about how dangerous the ixodida race was, suddenly stopped and stared at her cousin.

"Did you say something, Ronnie?" she asked.

Veronica looked at the table. "He wouldn't come all this way just to talk to a Nurse Joy, so…" She put her hands around her cup and leaned forward. "Pepper, are there any pokémon researchers in this area?"

Pepper blinked. "Well, there were a few. Professor George Cozmo, the Rousseau sisters, and I think the Fossil Maniac calls himself a researcher of sorts. Why?"

Veronica shook her head. "Are any of them still in the city?"

At that, Pepper pursed her lips momentarily and looked towards the ceiling. "Cozmo died early in the invasion. He got caught up in Meteor Falls when it got infested with adult ixodida. A couple of hikers managed to bring back his body. The Fossil Maniac moved into his abandoned laboratory, and Brigette Rousseau fled to Saffron City just before the quarantine. The only one who's still where she's always been is Lanette Rousseau. She's halfway between the city limits and Meteor Falls. It's dangerous out that way, but we can't get her to move."

Listening carefully, Veronica nodded every so often until her cousin was finished. Then, she asked, "What do they specialize in?"

Pepper tilted her head. "Well, the Fossil Maniac's pretty obvious. He studies ancient pokémon and their fossils, usually the stuff he digs up himself in the mountains around town. Cozmo did research in astronomy, studying meteors and the link between space and pokémon. Bit batty if you ask me. Brigette and Lanette Rousseau did a lot of research in pokémon-related technology, but on the side, they also do some studies into genetics and physiology. You know they worked with the Weather Institute to figure out how castform change shape, right?"

Veronica bit her lip. She knew Bill was looking for information about the ixodida and that he might not be entirely informed about the whereabouts of his colleagues. Secondly, she knew about the speculation that the ixodida were linked to the meteor that fell near Fortree, given that they started appearing around the crater it had left. So, considering both Bill's possible obliviousness to the status of each expert and each figure's field of study, she had a feeling he was looking for either Cozmo or the Rousseau sisters. That meant a two in three chance that they had come for nothing.

"Ronnie, what's with this sudden interest in our celebrities?" Pepper asked with a small smile.

"It's my friend," she replied. "I think he wanted us to go see one of them about the ixodida, but I can't remember which one."

Pepper frowned. "The ixodida, huh? Well, I hope for your sake it's Brigette, although I don't know how you'd get yourself to Kanto if it was."

Veronica sighed. "I don't think it is."

Then, eying her coffee, she downed the remainder. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she stood. Pepper blinked.

"What're you going to do now?" the officer asked.

Veronica gave her a long glance. "Actually, Pepper, if it's all right, I need to pick up some supplies."

---

One of the only instructions Veronica gave Rose was, "Don't open Bill's poké ball until you're in our room." Hence, Rose waited until after Nurse Joy showed her to one of the trainer rooms before doing anything. Part of her wanted to go back out, to follow Nurse Joy wherever she went. After all, she looked like the nice one who took care of her in Mauville City. However, she knew also that her brother was waiting patiently. So, with a small "thank you," she quietly shut the door and listened for Nurse Joy's receding footsteps. Then, she did the lock and pulled her brother's ball from her pocket.

That was over three hours ago.

The room itself was simple. Upon passing through the door, one would see a set of bunk beds against one of the white walls. The beds were neatly made with white sheets stretched tightly over the mattresses and brown, wool blankets at their feet. A wooden door was set into the wall just beyond the feet of the bunk beds, beyond which was a small bathroom done mostly in chrome. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a wooden desk and chair set, on which were a computer, a clock, a pen, and a pad of paper. Trainers rarely used rooms for more than a night; that was really all they needed.

At that moment, Bill lay stretched on his back on the bottom bunk. The wool blanket was pulled up over the lower half of his body, and his eyes were closed. Still, he wasn't asleep. He merely listened to his sister, who was at the desk with Veronica's bag at her feet. She carefully ripped out pages of the pad and tore small bits out of each sheet. Slowly but surely, each bit would transform from an ordinary, white corner of a page to a small paper bird that she'd set anywhere there was room on the desk. In the over-three hours the two had been alone in the room, seventy-six paper birds came into being. She told Bill she was trying to make a thousand. He recognized the superstition and didn't ask her anything more about them.

In the meantime, Bill was bored. If one asked his colleagues, they would have said this was usually a dangerous thing because it meant Bill would wander off or come up with some outlandish idea in about a few minutes, but that was usually when he had some way to pull it off. Here, the computer was an ancient model – at least ten years old – and barely ran, much less connect to anything through which Bill could get some form of news. Rose had commandeered the paper, not that he would have asked for it after she found a way to occupy herself anyway. The only other thing to do in that room was to leave it, but after realizing they were in a pokémon center, Bill quickly decided against that.

So, instead, he lay on the bed, pretending to be asleep but really quietly thinking about the situation. He knew he wasn't the only one stuck as an ixodida. That was already obvious. He also knew a bit of information about the parasites. Part of him considered asking Adam more, but he could feel Adam quietly working on reaching into his mind. He could tell the parasite wasn't looking at his conscious thoughts. Rather, it was like he felt an arm reach past him for a jar on a shelf behind him. Despite the discomfort he got from the sensation, Bill assumed his companion was looking at his memories and let it go. It wasn't as if Bill had any idea how to stop the creature from reaching that deep into him anyway.

Still, he knew that the sooner he found a way to physically separate himself from the parasite, the better. That was why he was in Fallarbor.

A twist of the knob broke the quiet of the room. When the door was stopped from opening thanks to the lock, a knock followed. Bill immediately sat up and glanced towards Rose. She put the bird she was making on the desk and glanced his way in response.

"Nii-san, the bathroom!" she whispered.

With a nod, Bill stood and drew the wool blanket around him and over his head like a cloak. Without a word, he started for the other room.

Then, a voice came through the front door.

"Rose," Veronica said. "It's me."

Bill paused just after opening the bathroom door. He turned back towards Rose, who jumped to her feet and padded to the door. She undid the lock with a click and stepped back to let the door slowly open. Sure enough, Veronica pushed open the door and slid inside numerous paper bags before stepping into the room herself. When she closed and locked the door behind her, she turned to Rose to begin explaining the items within the bags, but before she could say another word, she noticed Bill. Immediately, she gave him a confused look.

"Bill, what's with the blanket?" she asked.

"It's a disguise," he replied without skipping a beat.

She raised an eyebrow. "Your feet are showing, and you look ridiculous."

Bill looked down. Sure enough, his silver claws were poking out from the bottom of his makeshift cloak. Looking up, he opted to respond to the latter comment.

"I really didn't have too many other options," he said.

She tilted her head. "The door was locked. Also, you look like a demented Jedi."

"A what?"

She straightened. "You really don't get out much, do you?"

With a tight frown, Bill took off the blanket and threw it over the bed. Veronica smirked as she bent down over the bags.

"Sorry it took so long," she said. "I went out to pick up a few things. Here. There's backpacks for Rose and me to replace those old ones we took."

She drew two backpacks from one of the bags. The first was a large, brown backpack covered with pockets. She slipped this on to show off as she handed the smaller, pink backpack to Rose. With a smile, Rose happily accepted it and tried it on momentarily before retreating to the desk. There, she slipped it off and began to fill it with the things that were in her pockets.

"Save room, Rose," she said. "We're going to split up what's in my old bag along with the rest of this stuff. Clothes that should fit us – though I had to guess your sizes, Rose – food, canteens for water, basics of what we'll need on the road. I even got us some spare poké balls and medicines in case we encounter any other wild battles where we'll need 'em."

Bill leaned in, placing his hands on his knees as he studied the supplies Veronica was pulling out. His eyebrows rose as his tail swished behind him.

"You've thought of everything," Bill commented.

"Of course I did," Veronica said. "I even thought of this."

She pulled from one of the remaining paper bags a parcel wrapped in white paper and tied with hemp strings. Bill blinked as he accepted the package and straightened. Whatever was inside it bent easily in his hands like it was made of cloth. Glancing back to Veronica, he offered her a curious expression as she sat back.

"Open it," she said.

Quirking an eyebrow, he pulled one of the ends of the string to undo the knot at its top. Sliding the thread off the paper, he turned the package over and slipped his finger under one of the white flaps. It opened easily, and soon, the paper fell to the floor as Bill drew from the package a long cloak made of black velvet.

"It took me a bit of hunting to find something like it," Veronica explained. "I had to visit practically every artisan store still open around here. It cost my cousin a pretty penny, but I promised her it was definitely important. Try it on. I'm not sure if it'll fit you because I had to guess your size too."

With wide eyes, Bill carefully undid a silver clasp shaped like an oak leaf near the hood. Then, he carefully drew the cloak over his shoulders and redid the clasp before looking down to examine it. Sure enough, the cloak fell low. It didn't quite reach the ground, but it covered just enough of him to hide most of his body except a half an inch at the bottom – and even then, this time, his clawed toes didn't stick out awkwardly. Veronica stepped forward, nodding in approval as she reached up to pull the hood over Bill's head.

"We'll have to come up with something underneath it so you can use your arms, but it's a start," she said. Then, looking down, she frowned. "Your tail's probably going to be a problem if it starts wagging under this thing. Try wrapping it around your waist like a belt."

Blinking, Bill stepped back and opened the cloak slightly to peer down. He lifted his tail, examining it as it brushed the back of the cloak. Then, he wound it around his torso, just tight enough to make it less noticeable. Closing the garment, he glanced towards Veronica as she stepped forward and touched the hood.

"We'll need something else to cover those scales on your neck. Otherwise, I'd say you're perfect," she said.

Turning, she carefully stepped over the new supplies and towards her old bag. Opening it, she knelt down and began rummaging for some loose bit of cloth as Bill stepped into the bathroom to get a look at his face and the new cloak.

"Thank you," he said. "Is this an alternative to the poké ball?"

Veronica shook her head. "No, we're still going to use the ball if there's an emergency, like if you faint when we need to get out of a place quickly. That thing I got you is just so you can spend less time cooped up."

Bill nodded and turned on the lights. Looking in the mirror over the sink, he definitely looked human enough with the cloak covering most of him. As Veronica had noticed, the cloak was clasped at the bottom of Bill's neck, leaving the scales that lined the sides of his throat exposed. A patch of skin ran between them like a stripe, leading up to the bare chin.

He realized then that it was the first time he's really seen his reflection since he was infected. Even when their party stopped in abandoned houses, he hadn't really looked, but now, curiosity got to him. Carefully, he drew a hand from the folds of his cloak and pulled down the hood to get a better look at himself. His face was distinctly human, albeit paler and thinner now than before the accident. From a distance, the wires on his head – silver in color and the consistency of individual optical fibers – looked like actual strands of hair, and by then, they had grown enough to take on a wave reminiscent of his old curls. The only thing that looked out of the ordinary other than the scales were the two horns. They were white and rounded, jutting out of the top of his head in a manner that reminded him of cat ears. He could tell they couldn't possibly be used to attack, but in the time that he'd spent as an ixodida, they hadn't grown into anything otherwise potentially useful. Lifting his hand to touch one, he briefly wondered what purpose they could serve.

_Their function is simple, Bill,_ Adam suddenly drawled.

Bill jumped and glanced downward, towards the black velvet that covered the jewel in his chest.

_What are they?_ he asked.

Adam shifted, curling in Bill's chest with a liquid warmth. _How do bug-types communicate?_

Bill furrowed his eyebrows. He knew the answer – the hundreds of answers, depending on the bug-type – but he couldn't come up with an answer that matched what he'd already perceived. Before he could puzzle over the question any further, Veronica appeared in the bathroom doorway.

"Hey, Bill," she said. "I've got these bandages. Let's try wrapping your neck in them."

He turned to her and blinked as she stepped forward with a tan roll of cloth in one hand and a safety pin in the other. Bill leaned against the sink as Veronica reached up, placed the pin on the edge of the sink, and began wrapping his neck with the roll.

"Tell me if it's too tight," she said.

He smiled. "It's fine."

A moment of silence lapsed between them. Rose appeared in the doorway to watch as Veronica slowly rolled the cloth around Bill's neck. He lifted his chin slightly to give her room.

"So, do you like the cape?" Veronica asked.

Bill chuckled. "It's one of the best gifts I've received in my life."

"Okay, now you're bullshitting," Veronica replied. "By the way, who are we here to see?"

Without skipping a beat, Bill answered, "Her name is Lanette Rousseau. She's a colleague of mine."

At that moment, what Pepper had said about Cozmo flashed through her mind. As a knee-jerk reaction, Veronica sighed with relief.

"Oh, thank God," she muttered.

Bill blinked and tried to move, only to be stopped by the former officer's hands. "What?"

Veronica shook her head and reached for the pin. "Nothing."

Finishing the roll, she pinned the bandages at the side of Bill's neck and drew up the hood. Then, she carefully pushed him into turning around and looking at himself in the mirror.

"What do you think?" she asked.

His eyebrows rose again. The bandages definitely covered the scales, although now, it looked like he was badly injured.

"Well, I suppose it's better than going without it," Bill reasoned.

Veronica smirked. "Yeah, probably. Anyway, tomorrow, we'll go see Lanette. There's something you should know, though."

He turned to look at her. "What?"

At that point, Veronica frowned. "Ixodida are infesting that route. The Officer Jenny around here tells me they like to lurk in Meteor Falls, and the parasites can hunt in the grasslands to the north of the cave. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Bill nodded. "I have no choice but to do this, Veronica. Lanette is the only one who can help me right now."

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows. "You know, Bill, she has a sister."

He gave her an awkward smile. "Veronica, I haven't been isolated for _that_ long. Brigette is in Saffron City. She was there when I was still in Kanto."

"Well, what about the Birch Institute in Littleroot Town? Birch is one of the best researchers in Hoenn."

In response, he shook his head. "There's another reason why I think Lanette would be the best person to help me. I've known her longer than any of my other colleagues. We work well together – better and more efficiently than I do with anyone else."

Then, Veronica began to realize that it wasn't just a cure Bill wanted from Lanette. Her eyebrows rose at the sudden revelation, but she didn't dare say a word about it.

"Are you here to find a cure?" Veronica asked.

Once again, Bill nodded. "Of course. If I can cure myself, then perhaps I can help the other infected humans."

A smirk drew across Veronica's lips. "So, for now, you're trying to save yourself?"

For a brief moment, Veronica saw a flash of anger play across Bill's face. He was insulted, just as she had hoped. It said a lot to her about his motivations.

"What are you talking about? Of course not," he replied.

Veronica shrugged and turned to walk out of the bathroom. "Just trying to figure you out. That's all. Anyway, what'll we do about sleeping arrangements? There's only two beds. Hey, Rose? Want to share a bed with your brother or me? I'm not sleeping with him. No offense, Bill."

He blinked at the sudden change in subject.

"Just trying to… figure me out?" he murmured. Part of him felt he had more trouble trying to figure _her_ out than she did him.

Glancing at her brother with an apologetic face – eyebrows furrowed upward, lip bitten – Rose took Veronica's hand. She'd made her decision. Veronica turned and gave Bill a mock salute.

"I'm going to clean up a little out here and hit the sack," she said. "When you're done modeling here, you get the bottom bunk."

With that, she and Rose left the bathroom, pulling the door mostly closed behind them. Bill stood, mouth slightly open in silence as he tried to piece together exactly what had just happened.

---

From the peaks of the mountains surrounding Fallarbor Town, the place looked beautiful at night. Even before the invasion, the wilderness surrounding the hamlet would be pitch black, and there it would sit in the valley, twinkling with white and yellow lights. Now that the wilderness was considered nearly lethal, the hamlet became a haven, its lights glowing in defiance of the destruction that had engulfed most of Hoenn already.

One pair of eyes stared at these lights blankly. The ground-type stood unmoving, save for the arrowhead-tipped tail that swung back and forth behind him. His mouth curved in a slight frown as his hands balled into fists. He'd been there for awhile, since he'd seen a steel-type retreat into some round, human contraption earlier that morning. Now, he was waiting, in part for the steel-type to reappear and in part for something else.

The something else landed behind him with a small burst of wind and a soft scrape. He turned, watching as the female rose to her full height. White feathers covered the majority of her body, save for the gold-colored claws on her hands and feet and the skin of her pale face. Her wings were bird-like and never retracted into her back. Rather, they folded neatly behind her like an angel's wings. On her forehead, half hidden by white feathers that curled down from the crown of her plumage, her core glowed like a third eye. Her tail, covered in small feathers and tipped with an arrowhead like the male's own, curled around her bird-like feet as she narrowed her blue eyes at him.

"I find it highly unusual that you would call me to your domain," she commented.

The male turned back to the town. "You are the fastest at flying, and your nest is closest to our lady's."

She raised her eyebrows. "Yes, and what importance does this have?"

"Have you really not sensed it?" the male hissed with a frown. "Perhaps not. He has not been through your domain yet."

Crossing her arms, the flying-type moved forward. "Who?"

"A rogue."

She smirked and moved to sit on the edge of the cliff. Her talons swung back and forth over the edge as she peered down at the city.

"How is that anything to be concerned about?" she asked. "Rogues may not be common, but they're not unheard of. There is a rogue in every dynasty. I have rogues in my own domain, but I pay no attention to them. Humans are stupid. They panic, and when they do, they seek out other humans. But when normal humans see our kind, they panic as well and kill the rogues for us. Whatever the humans don't kill are killed by the drones, and when one of us dies, more of our brothers and sisters hatch and claim more hosts. So…" She glanced towards the ground-type. "Rogues increase our numbers. We should be thankful for them and let our lady's personal guards handle whatever rogue gets past his own human stupidity to reach her. That would, of course, be heavily unlikely."

The male narrowed his eyes. "You underestimate these humans. This rogue was responsible for the deaths of two members of the Venom Clan. I have been watching him ever since."

"He was lucky, then. Has he killed any of our numbers since then?"

Looking at the ground, the male shook his head. "No, but this one has also found humans who are not afraid of him. They are keeping him safe. As we speak, he lies asleep in that place, unknown to the other humans dwelling there."

The female shrugged. "He _is_ lucky. Still, humans are weak. Unless his companions become our hosts, they will be killed if enough drones overwhelm them. If his companions _do_ become our hosts, however, they will most likely kill him. It should be of no major concern to you, and I fail to see why it should be."

"He is of the Iron Clan."

At once, the female froze. She slowly turned to her companion, staring at him with an open mouth at first. Then, she pulled herself away from the edge of the cliff and rose carefully to her feet. When she was at her full height, she narrowed her eyes.

"Repeat that," she hissed. "I believe I misheard you."

The male straightened to tower above her. "He is of the Iron Clan."

"A rogue. From the Iron Clan?"

"Yes."

She turned back to the town. "Is he…"

The male nodded grimly. "It is a possibility."

Suddenly, the female paled. She covered her mouth and shook her head before turning away. Her wings spread with a sharp flap.

"Our lady must be told," she said. "I see now why you have called me. What will you do?"

The male frowned. "I will do my best to capture him."

"And if he resists?"

He closed his eyes. "You know as well as I do that the Iron Clan produces such dangerous monsters. He will be destroyed utterly if he does not cooperate. It will be best for our kind."

The flying-type gave him a bitter smile. "I wish you luck, but be on your guard. The Iron Clan does indeed produce dangerous monsters."

With that, she pushed off the edge of the cliff and took to the air with a flap of her wings. The male resumed his post, watching his companion ride towards the eastern horizon. Then, he turned back towards the town and waited.


	14. Thirteen: New Friends

Thirteen  
(Make new friends but keep the old.)

Although Veronica, Rose, and Bill left the pokémon center early – at the crack of dawn, in fact – they had difficulties leaving _town_ early. Pepper had found them as she headed towards the center for breakfast and attempted to insist on feeding them (which made Bill uncomfortable) and then to introduce herself to Bill (which made him even more uncomfortable). The latter was made worse when Pepper said things such as "Oh, so your friend came after all" and "You must be pretty brave to be traveling alone through Hoenn." Both statements thoroughly confused Bill until Veronica finally said her goodbyes and urged her companions across the city limits.

Then, the three of them fell quiet for some time. The sun shone brightly overhead, and the skies were brilliant-blue. However, Veronica and Bill remembered the warnings, the talk about how the place was infested with parasites and adult ixodida. The humans remained on the paths, and their ixodida companion padded alongside them, keeping his ears open and his eyes sweeping the sides of the road for any sign of a red glow. Not one of them said a word: Veronica to avoid attracting attention to themselves, Rose because it was her nature, and Bill because he strained to listen for any suspicious sounds.

It was in the middle of the morning when they finally caught sight of some sign of humanity alongside the road aside from a signpost. A river flowed to the east from a waterfall not far away, and at one point, the road led up to it and crossed it from a wooden bridge before winding towards the mountainside. Nestled between the road and the river was an orange-walled cottage with a garden of bluk berry plants growing behind it.

At once, Bill picked up the pace, walking ahead of the girls with long, wide strides. Veronica blinked and took Rose by the hand, and the two of them sped up to close the distance between themselves and their companion.

"Bill, what are you doing?" she hissed.

With a smile, he crossed the bridge and made a beeline for the house.

"We're here," he said. "This is the Rousseau sisters' laboratory."

He approached the wooden door with Rose and Veronica just behind him. Stopping, he looked up, taking in the sight of the house. It had been awhile since he was last there, and to his relief, it seemed exactly the same as it had been all that time ago. There was no evidence of disturbance, nothing that indicated its occupants had been attacked by the creatures roaming the valley. With a smile, he drew his hand out of the folds of his cloak and lifted it to knock.

"Hey, Bill?"

At the sound of Veronica's voice, Bill paused. With a blink, he looked over his shoulder. She frowned slightly.

"What is it?" he asked.

For a moment, Veronica considered asking him the question that was floating through her mind. Right then was the happiest she had seen him, and part of her was curious about one simple idea. However, she knew better than to pry, so with a shake of her head, she tossed the question aside for something else to say.

"What if Lanette's not here?"

At once, she was sorry she'd said it. Bill's smile faded, and his face took on a darker expression. He didn't respond, however, as he turned his attention back to the door. His hand rapped on the door three times before lowering to his side. A long silence ensued, lying thick on the group of travelers as a minute drew on for what seemed to be an eternity. Bill lifted his hand and knocked for a second time.

"Lanette?" he called.

In response, something banged loudly inside. Jumping, Bill instinctively grabbed the doorknob and twisted. The deadbolt hadn't been slipped into place, so the only thing that held the door partially closed was the chain. Bill leaned in and peered into the shadowy interior of the lab. All he could see were boxes and papers stacked into towers and walls that nearly reached the ceiling. Almost every available flat surface within view was covered with something, be it a stack of papers, a computer, scattered parts, or more boxes. Furrowing his eyebrows, Bill tensed his left hand until his fingers began to glow with a Metal Claw. Then, with a quick swipe, he slashed at the chain and felt it snap beneath his attack.

He pushed the door open with ease at that point, revealing a jungle of boxes with a long path leading from the front door to the stairs at the back. Smaller paths branched away from the main "road," lacing their way through the laboratory to small desk spaces and the humming, cylindrical machinery for the Hoenn PC Storage and Retrieval System. Directly in front of him, about halfway down the larger path, a large box lay on its side with papers spilling from its inside.

With a frown, he cautiously stepped into the laboratory. His nose was assaulted with a number of different smells: dust, cardboard, oil… and something flowery. Reaching for the coat rack on the other side of the door, he took what he knew to be one of Lanette's jackets – a green wool sweater – and brought it to his nose. The flowery scent lingered on the wool.

"Bill?" Veronica whispered. "What is it?"

He turned to her. "Stay out there. I'm going to find Lanette and make sure no ixodida is here. Don't come in unless you see something outside."

Before she could argue, he turned and walked down the path, climbing over the box as he went. The flowery scent grew stronger as he went deeper into the cottage. Every so often, he'd glance down the paths to check for anything that might be hiding, but all he could see were empty dead ends or desks cluttered with books, computers, or instruments.

Eventually, he came to the stairs, through a door on the opposite side of the room. Inhaling again, he took in the flowery scent. It was strongest here, as if perfume had just been sprayed over the stairs. Above him, the floorboards of the next story creaked. Pursing his lips, he slowly climbed the stairs, keeping his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.

The upstairs hall formed a T, with the stairs leading to one end of the top arm. Bill wandered around the corner and stared down the empty hall, down the row of closed doors. At the end, one door was open. This he knew to lead to the den, where Lanette would often go to read. Quietly, he crept closer, but the closer he got, the more he was aware that there was another sound filling the quiet of the hallway. Someone was breathing in short gasps occasionally laced with high-pitched whimpers. The sound led him to the open door, and cautiously, he peered inside.

Three of the walls were lined with bookshelves stocked from floor to ceiling with books. The light was off here, with the only illumination coming from the sunlight streaming from the window in the left wall. Shadows drew across the floor from a tall floor lamp, a coffee table, and a white couch set up in the middle of the room. Meanwhile, the only other occupant of this den was trembling across the way from the door.

Lanette Rousseau wasn't a tall young woman. In fact, she was slightly shorter than Bill when he was still human. Still, even considering the extra inch of height Bill had from standing on his toes, Lanette somehow seemed smaller at that point, cowering in the shadows. Her pale skin seemed paler, and behind her wire-rimmed, oval glasses, her red eyes widened at the sight of what she took to be a stranger. Her straight, orange hair fell halfway down her back, caressing the back of a green sundress, and her hands hid something behind her back.

Knowing fully well that his appearance must have been alarming to her, Bill did his best to smile warmly. He moved towards her slowly, careful to make no sudden moves.

"Lanette," he said. "I'm sorry for intruding on you, but when I heard that bang from outside, I thought you might have been hurt. So—"

Before he could finish explaining himself, she shrieked and swung the object she had been holding as her weapon at his head. It connected with a whack, and before he knew it, he found out just how comfortable the oriental rug on her floor was.

---

For the latest time in one too many, Bill awoke with a throbbing headache induced by a blunt trauma to his skull. He groaned, squinting at the pink light of a sunset streaming from a window until he saw a pair of hands press something white against his forehead. It clacked against him, and a cold sensation spread across his skin. Blinking, he tried to shift but could only see Lanette from her waist to her chest. She seemed to be sitting in a chair, but her arms blocked most of his view as her hands held the icepack against his head. Only then did he realize he was resting in a bed under thin, cotton sheets.

"You're awake," Lanette said softly. "That's good. I was worried I really hurt you."

Closing his eyes, Bill winced and forced himself to sit up. He took the icepack from Lanette's hands and shifted it, pressing it to the side of his head where he took the blow. Slowly, he opened his eyes to find himself in the guest room. A dresser stood across the way from the white-covered bed, and beside it was a closet door on which his cloak hung from a single hook. Across the room, to his left, was the door to the hall, and between Bill and it was a second bed, separated from the first by a nightstand with a clock on it. Forcing his eyes to open a little more, Bill turned to glance at Lanette, who was staring at her folded hands on her lap.

"I'm really sorry," she told him. "I didn't know it was you when I hit you. Your sister heard me scream and came up to explain as much as she could to me, but by then, you were down. She and your friend are eating dinner right now. When you're feeling better, you can join them." She looked up. "You should have contacted me as soon as you got to Hoenn. What happened to you? Are you all right?" Then, she paused. "I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?"

Bill gave her a weak smile. "Lively as ever, Lanette?"

She glared at him. "I'm serious, Bill."

"I know you are. It's just… it's a long story, and I'll need to tell you later when my mind is a bit clearer." He sucked in a breath through clenched teeth as he winced. "What did you hit me with?"

Suddenly, the glare turned into a sheepish smile. "A crowbar."

He turned his head to give her a curious glance. "A crowbar?"

"Mr. Smashy."

For a second time, Bill winced. "Oh. _That_ crowbar."

---

"Lanette, do the National Defense Forces track pokémon movements across Hoenn's borders?"

The question came abruptly after a long moment of silence, during which Lanette fully expected Bill to explain what had happened in the time that he went missing. Currently, the two of them were working on clearing some space in her laboratory. Lanette was moving single boxes and small stacks of paper off a table and nearby desk and computer. Bill was taking larger stacks. He was starting to realize what the Rocket had meant about his strength; he definitely felt like he was lifting far more than he would have as a human.

_Refined strength,_ Adam had told him when he started to notice this change. _Not super-strength. You can lift as much as your body is built to carry but no more._

It was a vague definition, but it was the least of Bill's worries at that moment. Instead, he kept looking towards the machinery of the Storage and Retrieval System as an idea wormed into his brain. Lanette had watched him with interest at first, but now, her stare was one of surprise instead of fascination.

"I don't know. What are you thinking?" she asked.

He shrugged. "If we can access my account, I can withdraw pokémon that may be able to carry us out of Hoenn. We could use Surf, Fly—"

She shook her head. "That would be too conspicuous."

For a moment, Bill paused in thought. Then, he straightened.

"Kadabra," he said. "He can use Teleport. We can go back to the Sea Cottage, and—"

Lanette raised her eyebrows. "We?"

At once, Bill stopped. He put the cardboard boxes he held on the floor and turned back to stare at her blankly.

"Well, yes," he said. "We could work here for awhile, but if things get dangerous, Lanette, I want you to come with me and get out of Hoenn. We'll take Veronica and Rosie along."

She gave him a weak smile. "Four non-psychics in a trans-regional teleportation. Don't you think that would overstress a psychic pokémon?"

"You have a kirlia. We could have them link to use Teleport simultaneously. That should be enough to carry us."

Lanette shook her head. "I really can't leave Hoenn."

Bill furrowed his eyebrows. "Why not? If we can escape—"

She peered over the top of her glasses with a glare that silenced him. Once he was quiet, she turned to grab a small box of instruments, a notepad, and a pen. Then, placing these items on the cleared table, she patted an empty spot.

"Sit," she said. "We'll start with the physical examination and then move on to taking DNA samples."

For a moment, Bill hesitated. Then, with a sigh, he moved to the table and pushed himself onto its surface. His tail curled around his waist to rest on his lap as he waited patiently. She drew a tape measure from the box and began stretching it, pressing its yellow surface against the left arm of her companion's body. She paused only to write numbers and notes on the pad before moving on to take measurements of his hands. For the first few minutes of the examination, Bill remained silent, but then, the nagging problems in his mind pressed him into speaking.

"Why can't you leave Hoenn?" he asked. "The system has been transferred to Saffron City, hasn't it?"

Lanette didn't even look up from her notes when she answered, "Because it's my duty as a researcher to stay here and gather as much information as I can about the ixodida."

Bill shifted. "How much have you found out already?"

She shook her head and measured the lengths of the claws on his hands. "Not enough. I can't get close enough to study them, but I've managed to plant cameras in the grass to watch them from a distance. The parasites are obligate carnivores, you know. They consume the entirety of a carcass except its bones and the skin. I think, though, that the same could be said for the adults, only they eat everything. At least, nothing is left when an adult finishes—"

"Lanette."

For the first time since the examination began, she stopped and looked into her partner's face. It was paler than usual, and a fang was poking out of the corner of his mouth to bite his lip.

"Oh." She straightened and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Sorry. I thought you'd be interested in learning about their habits. Isn't your area psychology?"

He nodded. "It is, but I have no desire to delve deeply into the mind of an ixodida."

She raised her eyebrows. "Why not? Bill, you have a perfect opportunity!"

"Because I'm afraid I won't be able to come back!"

The silence that ensued seemed heavier than it had been a moment ago. Bill straightened as he realized exactly what he'd said and how he'd said it. Frowning, he realized that he just told Lanette exactly what he didn't want to tell Veronica and Rose. On the other hand, it felt good to talk about it to someone. Lanette was his colleague, his closest human companion. He trusted her. It wasn't as if he didn't trust Veronica or Rose, really. It was more that he could tell something to Lanette and expect her to remain calm. He couldn't predict his traveling companions' reactions.

So, when Lanette gave him the opportunity to share, he seized it with both hands. She withdrew, pushing aside her tools to take a seat next to him. He, meanwhile, gripped the edges of the table.

"When I wear a costume," he began, "there is always one way to take it off – a zipper or a button. No matter how far I go, there's always the option to go back to being a person. This…" He paused to raise his claws between them. "This is my body. There's no taking this off and becoming human again. No way that's known yet, at least."

Lanette tilted her head and frowned. "You're scared."

Turning his head, he gave her a forced smile. "There's something inside me, and I don't exactly know what it wants. Of course I'm scared."

She offered a sympathetic glance in response. "I want to help you."

"Help me get back to Kanto," Bill replied. "If I can get to the lighthouse, it can keep me from losing myself."

Sighing, Lanette realized he was continuing the argument from a moment ago. "And then what? Bill, you don't look human. Even I couldn't recognize you at first."

He twisted in his seat to face her. "No one has to see me! It's not unusual for me to stay in the cottage for long periods of time."

"But not forever."

"Just long enough to find a cure." Bill slipped off the table and grabbed his partner's wrists. "Please, Lanette. We can't stay here. I've encountered those things before. They're dangerous, and they can kill us without a second thought."

She gave him a long, steady look. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his grip on her wrists was firm. She could feel his fingers curl and hold her with just enough pressure to make it known she wasn't about to break out of his touch but not enough to hurt her. The latter was a slight surprise to her, given she could also feel the sharpness of his claws against the flesh of her hands. Rather than looking at them, she lifted her chin and stared into his eyes.

"You might change in form, but that stubbornness you've always had is still there," she said lightly.

She could feel his grip loosen. His expression softened slightly. He was hesitating, and she could see it just from his movements. A smile crossed her lips at the realization. Bill may have been the psychologist, but she could read his body language better than he could analyze her mind.

"You don't believe me," he murmured.

Lanette pulled her hands away. Then, she pushed herself off the table and passed him to get to the computer. Her hands played across the keyboard in a series of clacks before she stood. Glancing at the screen, Bill noticed the familiar interface of the Storage and Retrieval System.

"I never said I didn't," she said. "Get whatever pokémon you think you need."

Bill tried not to show his relief and satisfaction, but the way he moved with such fluidity and a lack of hesitation told her he thought he'd won the argument. His hands slipped to the keyboard, and Bill couldn't help but notice how strange the keys felt under his fingertips. Still, his mind slipped into familiar routines. With quick strokes, he flipped through images of each box, searching for one pokémon in particular.

"You logged in for me," he said idly.

Lanette shrugged. "The NDF contacted Brigette to have your account frozen. She and I don't keep secrets between us; she gave me the go-ahead to unlock it if I needed to evacuate or in the event, which we thought would have been extremely unlikely if it didn't turn out to be true, that you showed up here." Placing her hands on her hips, she watched him for a bit before adding, "Which reminds me. You have yet to fulfill your promise."

He paused. "Promise?"

"The one where you said you'd tell me what happened as soon as you could think clearly," she told him. "You've been gone for two months. The only hint to where you went were the facts that the NDF wanted us to keep you from getting into your account and that Polaris Institute advised Bebe and Celio to split the Kanto and Johto servers between them. Bebe thinks you're dead, you know, but Celio thinks there's a conspiracy."

Bill smiled. "He would."

Ignoring his comment, Lanette continued. "Then, you show up at my doorstep infected. What are you doing in Hoenn? Weren't you working for Polaris Institute in Kanto?"

Bill clicked on a pokémon to check its status. The institute had deposited all of the pokémon he had with him in his dormitory into his PC. With them, his boxes were almost at maximum capacity. Herds of pokémon, and they were all just keystrokes away. It was no wonder to him that the military wanted to keep him from accessing his account.

"I was," he finally said. "As I've said, it's a long story. The institute was attacked, and in the ensuing battle, the sample we held found its way onto my chest." He straightened and tapped a finger on the jewel over his heart. "As you may know by now, the parasite has the ability to mutate its host. I came to you to find out how this happens."

Lanette shook her head. "Sorry. I don't have that kind of information."

He gave her a soft smile. "Right now, you don't, but I'm willing to give you whatever data you need to help me find out."

Lanette raised her eyebrows. "Bill, you're lucky I'm not Bebe."

"Ho-oh burn me if you were. I know what obscene things go through her mind."

Then, for the first time in awhile, Bill realized he was relaxed. He no longer had to be on constant watch from the predators in the wild. Worries about impending danger no longer plagued his every waking moment. He felt like he was having the kind of conversation he held with Lanette before the invasion.

As he hit the enter key to withdraw a pokémon, Lanette crossed her arms and tilted her head. In the meantime, Bill turned his attention towards the corner of the room, where the cylindrical receiving pod stood from floor to ceiling. The pod was almost entirely made of metal, save for roughly a foot and a half of glass that, when data was transmitted to it, lit up with a bright, white light beamed from a laser at the chamber's top. Colored lights flashed on panels above and below the window as the machine processed the information it received from the computer. It took only a few seconds of light and buzzing before the machine stopped as an ordinary poké ball sat in the once-empty chamber. Bill stepped forward and opened the door to retrieve the ball. Even it felt strange in his hand now, and he felt uncomfortable and hypocritical for holding it. He did, after all, object to its use on him only a day ago.

"So, they quarantined you," Lanette said.

"Huh?" Bill turned towards her with a blink before the question sank into his skull. "Oh. Not exactly. They planned on keeping me at the institute, but something happened."

"What?"

Bill hesitated for a beat as he examined the poké ball in his hand. Then, he shrugged.

"Another person was infected at roughly the same time I had been," he told her. "He attacked most of the institute, and the National Defense Forces were called in."

Lanette raised her eyebrows. "So, the NDF captured not only you but someone else?"

He shook his head. "The other ixodida was killed before they found us. I think Adam was the one who did it."

"Adam?"

Turning his eyes back towards Lanette, Bill gave her a forced smile. Then, he lifted a finger and tapped the parasite in his chest for a second time. At once, Lanette's eyes widened.

"It takes control of me now and then," Bill explained. "That time… I don't know what exactly happened. I lost consciousness, and…" Then, he paused, studying her face before quickly adding, "But he should be harmless now. He never takes control unless he wants to protect me or speak directly to me, and he certainly hasn't harmed another human being."

At least, as far as he knew. Bill paused, his smile fading slightly as he realized he hadn't really thought about what happened that day apart from in his nightmares. He furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to remember, to think past that mental block, but all he could recall was blackness. In his mind, Adam stirred, and he felt the parasite uncurl itself and reach into his head.

_All you need to do is ask,_ it hissed. _But for now, I will refrain from telling you. After all, is this not the female you wished for weeks to see? Perhaps I have spent far too long living within a human's mind, but even I must say I find her to be very charming._

A small flash of heat crossed Bill's face, and he was just about to respond to Adam's venom when Lanette called his attention again.

"Bill?"

He looked up, his face dropping his angered expression in favor of surprise. She, meanwhile, tilted her head.

"Is it doing something?" she asked.

"What?" For a second time, he blinked. "Oh, the parasite? No, nothing important. Why do you ask?"

"Well," she replied, "for one thing, you're blushing."

Bill paused for a moment, his eyes wide and his body straightened. Then, with a frown, he decided to ignore her comment. Instead, he pointed the button in the center of the poké ball towards a clear patch of floor and cleared his throat.

"Kadabra, come on out," he said.

The white hemisphere of the ball swung downward with a click, and from the sphere's center, white light poured onto the concrete floor. There, it molded itself into a canine shape roughly half Bill's height as the ball clicked closed. In seconds, the light faded to reveal the form of a male kadabra kneeling before his master. At once, Bill smiled. Like the rest of that hour, it was the meeting of a companion from his past: the reunion between Bill and the first pokémon he ever owned.

"Hello, old friend," he whispered.

The kadabra opened his eyes, took one look at the ixodida, and, in response, telekinetically sent him crashing into a pile of boxes with the poké ball hitting the floor between them.

"Kadabra!" Lanette cried. "Don't! That's Bill!"

She wrapped her arms around the fox-like creature as a blue glow began to surround him. Another tower of boxes came crashing down on top of the pile, seemingly on its own. Footsteps pounded down the stairs, and in moments, Veronica peered into the laboratory.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

Despite Lanette's protests, the kadabra continued to squirm against her hold. Her free hand reached for his poké ball as another blue aura flared around him. Boxes shook around the already growing pile, but before he could topple another tower, Lanette held the ball against his skin.

"Kadabra, return!"

With a flash of red light, the fox vanished into the ball. Lanette sighed momentarily before rising to her feet and placing the ball on the table. Then, she rushed towards the pile and pulled one box after another off its top.

"Help me with these boxes," Lanette said to Veronica.

The former officer blinked and jogged to her side. Bending over, Veronica grabbed for boxes herself.

"What happened?" she asked. "What's with that kadabra?"

"It's Bill's," Lanette explained quickly. "He tried to summon it, but it went berserk and buried him."

Veronica straightened. "What?!"

Bending over again, Veronica picked up the pace, grabbing and throwing boxes to the side. With both women working furiously, it didn't take long at all for a flash of metal to be uncovered. Their hands reached down and seized it to pull it up. First, an arm rose out of the boxes, followed shortly afterwards by a torso and head. Bill sat up, still half buried in boxes as his free hand reached to rub his temples.

"Are you all right?" Veronica asked.

Bill sucked in a breath. "I'll be fine. What happened?"

A small frown crossed Lanette's lips. "Kadabra attacked you. I should've known releasing it without telling it about your condition first would have been a bad idea."

He winced as he pulled himself out of the pile. "It's not your fault."

Veronica straightened and narrowed her eyes at the both of them. Placing her hands on her hips, she tilted her head.

"I feel like I'm missing something here," she said. "Since when did you have a kadabra?"

Bill blinked and glanced her way. "I've had one since I was a human. I just chose to withdraw him from the system because I'd hoped we could use him to get out of Hoenn." He frowned and shakily climbed out of the pile of boxes. "Perhaps I should rethink this."

Lanette sighed and helped him to stand. "Hopefully, you're not going to try to use Kadabra again anytime soon. You saw how quickly it attacked you."

He bit his lip. Of course he saw, and of course he wasn't particularly surprised that it happened. On the other hand, Kadabra was one of his oldest pokémon companions, and that was aside from considering that the psychic was the group's only means of transportation out of Hoenn as far as Bill could tell at that point. Just giving up on trying to convince Kadabra to trust him didn't feel right to him.

Veronica, meanwhile, was not satisfied with the change of subject.

"You withdrew it from the system?" she asked. "What? You mean the Storage and Retrieval System? We're nowhere near a pokémon center."

At once, Bill glanced at Veronica with wide eyes. Then, slowly, he turned to his colleague, who looked away and coughed.

"You didn't tell her?" he asked.

She shrugged and gave him a small smile. "We didn't talk to each other much. She explained to me your situation and asked to use my kitchen. Telling her anything else must have slipped my mind."

Exhaling, Bill turned his attention back to Veronica and said nothing more to his partner. He knew all too well how her mind worked when she was excited.

"Veronica, this is Lanette Rousseau," he said, "one of the two managers of Hoenn's Storage and Retrieval System. Because all of Japan's systems are connected, getting to my account is a simple matter of logging in through Lanette's computer."

His companion's eyes went wide before he'd even finished. She stepped forward, leaning towards Lanette with wonder.

"_That_ Lanette?! The creator of the Storage and Retrieval System?" Veronica asked. "Oh, Bill, you didn't tell me you knew someone famous in Hoenn! Ms. Rousseau, it's an honor to meet you. Your system is a godsend for my entire family!"

At once, Lanette smiled and blushed. "Oh, well, thank you. That's quite a compliment."

Bill, meanwhile, blinked. "You're surprised that I know Lanette Rousseau? I told you she was my colleague."

"Yeah, but…" Veronica rubbed the back of her neck. "I didn't think you were talking about the creator of the Storage and Retrieval System."

"Co-creator," Bill mumbled.

Veronica's eyebrows rose. "Really? Who's the other one?"

He crossed his arms and glared at her. "I am."

"Seriously?" She tilted her head. "Huh. I didn't think you were that kind of person."

Narrowing his eyes, he studied her carefully. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Well, I knew you were a pokémon researcher, but I thought you were just an amateur one or just an intern or something."

Bill nearly fell over in surprise at her response. Reaching up to rub the back of his head, he stared at her with wide, incredulous eyes. His mouth opened to respond, but before he could, a loud explosion rose outside. The house shook, and boxes came crashing down throughout the lab.

With a gasp, Lanette turned to seize the poké ball on the table before it could roll into the piles. Then, she followed her two companions as they bolted towards the doorway to the stairs.

"An earthquake?!" Veronica yelled.

Before either of the scientists could reply, a chorus of shrieks filtered through the walls of the cottage. Instantly, Bill froze. His body felt ice-cold as he listened to the cries coming from all around the building. Although none of them were human, each one felt unsettlingly familiar, and each ixodida outside was calling for him.

"Oh no," he whispered.


	15. Fourteen: Never Say

Fourteen  
(Never say die.)

There were thirty-two ixodida outside, and by the looks of them, Bill could tell two things. First, they were most likely ground or rock-types. He got this conclusion mostly from the fact that all of them would raise their long, clawed arms in the air and strike the earth around the cottage in unison to send one Earthquake after another to rock the house. Second, for reasons he didn't entirely understand, they were pissed. This conclusion came from, naturally, the fact that they had been attacking the house with one Earthquake after another for the past half an hour.

Bill closed his eyes as he backed away from the window. Lanette was already in the other room, trying to convince her kirlia that the strangers in the guest room were her friends. Rose sat on the bed, surrounded by all of her pokémon: Numel, Squirtle, Whismur, and Shroomish. Squirtle and Whismur huddled close to Rose, both trembling uncontrollably. Numel kept close himself, but on his face was an expression of fierce determination. He frowned and crouched as if he was ready to attack an enemy that was just about to burst through the door. In the meantime, Shroomish seemed to have the same sentiment, but she growled as she paced on the foot of the bed.

Glancing away from his sister, Bill looked towards Veronica, who sat on the chair twirling Growlithe's poké ball in her hands. She said nothing since the two of them went to each window to see what they were up against. Nothing, at least, until that particular moment.

"We've got to fight," she said.

Bill furrowed his eyebrows as he made his way to the closet door. "There's too many of them."

Pulling his cloak off the hook, he flung it over his shoulders and worked on fastening it around his neck. When he looked up, he saw Veronica twisted around in her seat, glaring at him.

"We can't wait all night for Lanette to convince Kirlia to use Teleport for us. Go downstairs and withdraw more pokémon," she said.

"How will that help?" Bill asked. "Any pokémon I withdraw will most likely attack me. Even then, I can't withdraw more than six pokémon. It would take too much time to override the system."

Another earthquake shook the house. Rose whimpered as she hugged her knees to her chest. Veronica grabbed the chair and tried to remain stable, and Bill threw open the door to the closet and clutched the doorframe to keep himself on his feet. The tremor only lasted a few seconds before the floors calmed. Rose buried her face in her knees and sniffled as the two adults exchanged glances. It wasn't going to be the last tremor they were going to feel, and both of them knew that.

With a growl, Veronica stood. "This is ridiculous."

She stood and stomped towards the door with Growlithe's poké ball enlarged in her hand. Bill's eyes widened, and he darted after her as fast as he could, eventually reaching out to grab her by the wrist. Turning, she glared at him and shook her arm in an attempt to throw him off.

"Let go!" she snapped.

Without thinking about it, he growled – actually growled. "What are you planning on doing?"

Veronica paused, startled by the sound that came just before his words. Narrowing her eyes at him, she stopped struggling. Her thumb found the button at the front of the ball to shrink it, and with another click, she clipped it back to her belt.

"Nothing," she said. "If no one else is going to help me fight those things, it's suicide."

Bill loosened his grip on her wrist. He said nothing in return. Instead, he straightened and relaxed, cutting off the growl at once. Veronica slipped her hand away from him and turned to walk towards the doorway. Leaning out of it, she peered across the hall to the kitchen, where Lanette knelt in front of her kirlia.

"How's it going?" Veronica asked.

Lanette looked over her shoulder. "She says she'll do it so long as Bill doesn't touch her."

Veronica scoffed. "So, what? Is she saying we leave him here?"

Shaking her head, Lanette stood. "He only needs to touch one of us to come along. Take his hand and touch Kirlia. That should be enough."

One of Veronica's eyebrows arched as she muttered, "Isn't that your job?"

Lanette didn't seem to catch it as she moved towards the door.

"Get ready. We'll leave in five minutes," she said.

With that, she swept herself out the door and moved quickly along the hallway to her bedroom, leaving her kirlia sitting on the floor in the kitchen. In the meantime, Veronica turned to head back into the guest room. Bill hesitated for a moment and then frowned.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Veronica paused for a second before starting forward again. "What?"

Bill pursed his lips. For a second time, Veronica paused, this time to look over her shoulder at him. Her expression was neutral – serious.

"Look," she said, "if you mean that little thing I said a minute ago, I'm just saying it's pretty obvious."

She walked to her bag in the corner of the room. This time, Bill followed her.

"What's pretty obvious?" he asked. Then, as if saying it as an afterthought, he glanced towards Rose and added, "Rosie, recall your pokémon and get your bag. Everything will be okay."

With quick, fumbling hands, Rose pulled the poké balls from her pockets to recall each of her companions on the bed. Meanwhile, Veronica picked up her bag and threw Rose's at the girl's feet.

"I mean," Veronica said in response to Bill's question. Then, she shrugged. "You know what? Never mind. It's not important right now."

He gave her a confused glance in response, but instead of saying a word, he simply turned and walked out the door. Veronica put her hands behind her head and followed him. She didn't say anything. She only watched him curiously as, once again, a question nagged at her mind. Part of her wanted to come right out and ask him, but she knew it was trivial compared to their situation.

Suddenly, that situation got worse. Downstairs, the sound of the door smashing open broke the silence. Shortly afterwards, a piercing scream filled the walls of the cottage. Bill instantly froze. His body felt cold as he heard the message in the cry.

Rose screamed and ran into the kitchen. She fell to her knees just inside as her arms wrapped around the trembling kirlia. Lanette was the second one to enter as she quickly passed the two adults while slinging a messenger bag over her shoulder. Veronica hesitated only to look at Bill, who stared towards the stairs with wide eyes.

"Bill, what are you doing?" she snapped. "Come on!"

The screams rose again as the sound of ripping and crashing rose from downstairs. In his mind, each shriek resolved into words.

_SURRENDER. _

_ROGUE._

_TRAITOR._

_KILL._

He paused. Though he couldn't consciously make sense of what they meant, he felt like he understood – like he knew the meaning of the string of words but didn't know how he could have arrived at his conclusion. They were after him, and they were willing to kill everyone in the house for him. Why? Because he somehow broke an unwritten law of the ixodida? He tried to search for Adam and ask him, but Adam, strangely, evaded Bill's reaches. Before he could make more of an effort to coax Adam to the surface of his mind, Veronica grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen.

"Let's go!" she snapped. "They're getting closer!"

He didn't protest. Instead, he turned and darted with her to the kirlia. Rose held one of the psychic-type's hands while Lanette held a shoulder. Veronica, meanwhile, reached out to grasp Kirlia's other hand.

With a sharp frown, Lanette gave her command to her pokémon. "Kirlia! Focus all of your energy and use Teleport to get us to Littleroot!"

The psychic closed her eyes and hummed. Within seconds, a blue aura flared around her and began to expand outwards to touch all of her passengers. The light flickered and danced across them as it steadily grew brighter.

Suddenly, the room shook with another tremor. Shrieks rose from the first floor as plaster fell in a white snow onto the five travelers. Rose clung tighter to Kirlia's arm with both hands, and Veronica fell to a knee – bringing Bill down with her – to keep herself stable and connected to the psychic.

However, Lanette's hand slipped from Kirlia's shoulder as she lost her balance and pitched backwards onto the floor.

All of the travelers, including Lanette, realized a split second too late her mistake, but before Lanette could reach out to touch one of her companions again, they vanished.

Panting with panic at the realization of what had just happened, Lanette waited until the tremors stopped. The shrieks rose again, this time closer. She could tell they were almost at the foot of the steps. Even the mountains of boxes and papers downstairs weren't enough to keep them at bay for long. Lanette gradually stood, her hands searching through her bag for an answer. Inside, she found the poké ball she'd intended to give back to its proper owner.

Biting her lip, she opened it, allowing the light to spill from it and form, in seconds, a kadabra. He knelt in front of her for a brief moment before looking up to find Lanette. At once, she dropped to her knees and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Kadabra," she said. "Bill isn't here. It's just me. You remember me, don't you? I'm Lanette."

He stared at her for a moment before nodding slowly.

Lanette offered a small smile in return. "I'll explain in a moment, but right now, we need to get out of here. I want you to Teleport to the safest place you can think of."

For a beat, Kadabra hesitated. Then, slowly, he closed his eyes and focused.

In the next instant, the kitchen was empty.

---

The forest outside of Littleroot had been quiet for weeks. It was one of the last places ixodida appeared, having been hampered by the abundant fauna in Petalburg Woods and City. Even here, zigzagoon were still plentiful, and wurmple, with their poisonous barbs, clung to almost every tree trunk in the area. The darkest part of the night drew on, and the lights from the stars and the moon filtered through the lacing tree branches overhead. Throughout the forest, the only sounds were poochyena barks and the scratching of zigzagoon claws across the leaves littering the ground.

Then, in the middle of the path winding to Littleroot, four figures suddenly materialized, and the first sound out of one of them was a scream.

"_Lanette!_" Bill shouted.

He tore his hand away from Veronica's and swung desperately towards the spot in their formation where Lanette would have stood. In the darkness, he could see no one there.

"No," he whispered. "No, we've got to go back! Lanette—"

Veronica frowned. She felt the kirlia's hand hang limply from her own before she let it slip through her fingers. The psychic didn't even have enough strength to stand up, and Veronica knew that from the way the stubby arm fell and from the soft thumping of Kirlia's body on the dirt.

"Bill," she said calmly, "the ixodida broke in. If we went back, we'd be too late."

He shook his head. "No, Veronica, if we go back right now, we'd—"

"Do you really think Kirlia's up to it?" Veronica asked.

Bill hesitated for a beat. Then, turning, he stooped down to Kirlia's level. He could see her in monochrome, but even in broad daylight, she would have looked pale. Already, she was on her hands and knees on the ground as her small mouth panted from the exertion. Bill ignored this and reached for her arm.

"Please," he pleaded. "Kirlia, please. Lanette's in danger. We need to go back."

Noticing his hand coming for her, Kirlia froze. Her eyes widened in terror for a beat before taking on a blue glow. In the next instant, Bill felt a snap, like a sharp electric shock hitting his hand. Right then, he recoiled and winced.

"Kirlia!" he hissed.

Veronica put her hands on her hips, her fingers brushing the poké balls on her belt. "Bill, it's no use! We can't go back!"

In response, Bill rose to his feet quickly, whirling around to face Veronica. "I refuse to believe that! We're running out of time!"

"Calm down," she said. "Lanette's a smart girl. She'll figure out a way out."

"How can you say that?" he replied. "Lanette's in danger! She… aren't you supposed to protect the people?"

"We can't use Teleport," Veronica told him. "Would you just look at Kirlia? Even I can tell she's too weak to make another trip. Forcing her might hurt her."

"If we don't do something," Bill snapped, "someone is going to be killed."

"How can we ask Kirlia to Teleport to an ixodida-infested house and back with all of us? She needs rest, Bill."

For a beat, he was silent. Veronica could see his silhouette in the dim light of the moon, but she couldn't read his expression. However, soon, she didn't have to. Instead, he exhaled, and she could hear the sound of metal sliding across metal. Bill pushed his cloak between the spikes on his back as his wings extended to his sides.

"We don't ask her, then," he replied. "I'll fly there myself. It will put fewer of us in danger anyway."

In the next moment, Veronica could hear the hum of Bill's wings beating. She watched him rise into the air for several feet, just before she saw the twisting line of his tail. Without thinking, she snatched it and wrapped it around her hand once. Then, with a sharp yank, she pulled it, sending the creature slamming back into the ground mere seconds after he took off. A piercing scream tore from his throat – an inhuman one, much like the ones that she'd heard fill Lanette's home.

Suddenly, Bill wasn't on the ground. Instead, he was swinging back onto his feet as his claws raced through the air. There was the sound of tearing, and a searing pain ran through Veronica's arm. She gasped and released Bill's tail as she glanced at him with watering eyes. It was strange, but she didn't notice until now that in the darkness, Bill's eyes glowed like a cat's. That image and the feeling of blood running down her arm sent shivers through her body.

Holding her arm, she backed away, realizing she wasn't facing a human. "Bill, what the hell? Look, I'm sorry for pulling your tail, but you've really completely lost it, you know that? How long do you think it'll take you to get back to Fallarbor? And then, you're running right into danger. You'd be outnumbered, even if you took us. Kirlia wouldn't be able to Teleport us back either way. And even then, who's to say that they didn't get La—"

She stopped when she heard it. It was a strange sound, a rumbling growl. Bill crouched and narrowed his glowing eyes. His claws were stretched out at his sides, and his tail whipped behind him in irritation.

"Don't you dare stop me," he hissed.

His wings spread, and once again, Veronica heard the hum of the blades beating. However, she also heard a pop, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a white light.

"Shroomish, Stun Spore!"

Veronica dove backwards, as far away from Bill as she could get while one of her hands covered her mouth and nose. She'd been attacked by enough pokémon in the line of duty to know how to react. However, Bill wasn't quite used to it. Instead of diving out of the way, he turned, facing the source of the cold breeze head-on. Unfortunately, his night vision wasn't sharp enough for him to make out the gold dust that had engulfed him, but he could see clearly the image of his sister helping the fallen kirlia to get away from the cloud as the shroomish in front of her shook violently.

In the next moment, Bill smelled something bitter. He clenched his teeth and tried to hold his breath, but by then, it was far too late. The unprotected skin of his face felt it first, the numbness crawling through his body as a result of the toxins in the spores working their way into his body. Next went his muscles as the golden dust wormed its way into the gaps between the plates of his armor. At first, his entire body seized up, and he stood as straight as a wooden board. Then, slowly, he lost the ability to do even that as he sank to his knees first and then onto his stomach.

He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. All he could do was stare, angry and hurt, at his sister.

"Recall him. We've got to get him some help." Veronica paused to glance at her injured arm, still stinging and bleeding. "And I think I need stitches."

With a nod, Rose reached behind her to pull his ball from her backpack. Bill stared helplessly as she held it up to him. Then, a red light pierced the darkness of the forest, and Bill could no longer see the outside world.

---

In the middle of the night, Brigette Rousseau sat in a barely furnished apartment in Saffron City. She had moved in months ago, but even then, the place only had a bed, a dresser, a kitchenette, a door to a small bathroom, and a desk with a computer sitting on top of it. Brigette wasn't usually one to live extravagantly, and anyway, she didn't need much for what she had to do there.

She leaned back in her chair, her slender body tilting it slightly off its front legs as her ruby-colored eyes fixed on the screen. Statistics of the Hoenn Storage and Retrieval System flashed in rapid succession in blinking windows as the system ran through checks and scans. It went on like this for a quiet hour, with Brigette only getting up to walk across the room to the bathroom and then the kitchenette beside it. Her back was turned as she poured herself a glass of water from the kitchenette's tap when, suddenly, the processes stopped.

Only then did she hear the ringing of the video phone function. As she took a sip from her glass, she turned and walked back to the computer. A few keystrokes later, she answered on the third ring.

When the image of the caller appeared on the screen, Brigette was surprised for two reasons. First, it was her sister, who had sworn never to leave Hoenn until she gathered enough data on the ixodida. Second, the brown plaster walls, the dim light, and the red carpets of the all-too-familiar backdrop told Brigette she wasn't looking at the cottage near Meteor Falls. Instead, she recognized it immediately as the Sea Cottage – Bill's lighthouse.

"Lanette?" she asked as she sat down. "Explain."

The caller exhaled. "Hello, Brigette. I'm sorry about calling this late, but I need to tell you something important."

Brigette quirked an eyebrow. "You're not in Hoenn anymore, are you?"

She bowed her head. "No. That's part of why I called."

At that, the older sister took another sip from her glass, swallowed, and added, "I noticed you unfroze Bill's account. Was it one of his pokémon that brought you to Kanto?"

"How did you…" Lanette looked over her shoulder. "Oh. Right." She glanced back at the screen. "I can't say too much about how I evaded quarantine, but yes."

Brigette furrowed her eyebrows. "I see. What happened?"

"We were attacked by ixodida, Brigette. Our lab is destroyed, and Bill's kadabra used Teleport at the last second to get me out."

Brigette nodded. "I see."

Lanette straightened as a frown tightened her face. "There's something you need to know. I found Bill."

At that, Brigette's eyebrows rose. "You did?"

In response, Lanette nodded. "Yes, but he's in trouble."

"Trouble?"

"They quarantined him."

"Quarantined?" Brigette tilted her head. "Lanette, tell me he didn't…"

Lanette nodded solemnly. "He told me there was an accident in Polaris Institute. He's an ixodida now, and he's stuck in Hoenn with his sister."

"An ixodida?" Brigette blinked. "And he _told_ you…?"

The younger sister shook her head. "I don't understand it either, but somehow, Bill isn't like the other ixodida I've seen in the area. He still thinks the way he always has." Her eyelids lowered slightly as she looked away briefly. Then, glancing back, she furrowed her eyebrows. "Brigette, we've got to do something. We can't just leave him or anyone else like him there. What if he slips and turns into an ixodida in his mind too? We'll lose our best chance at finding out about the ixodida!"

Brigette closed her eyes. "You know Bill as well as I do. He practically does this kind of thing for a living. He won't break down that easily."

"He's scared that he will, though. I think he's been like this for far too long."

Brigette nodded. "Probably since he disappeared." She opened her eyes. "Stay there for a few days. I'm going to make arrangements for the two of us to go to Pallet Town."

"Pallet Town?" Lanette gave her a curious look. "What's in Pallet Town?"

"According to the news," Brigette replied, "Professor Oak. We're going to go there and ask him a few questions."

"Why not just go to Polaris Institute?"

Brigette shook her head. "That fortress? We'd be lucky to get in the front gate. Professor Oak, however, survived something bad enough to be forced to retire from the institute at the same time we were asked to freeze Bill's accounts. I think he might know something about the beginning of all of this, and if we can find out exactly what happened to Bill, we might be able to help him."

Lanette's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything in response. In the meantime, Brigette placed her glass on the desk, laced her hands in front of her, and propped her elbows on the table.

"_Might_," she added.

---

In the heart of Hoenn, there was a mountain on an island called Mt. Pyre. This particular point, for its location and the fact that it was the tallest point in the region, had often been seen by the natives as being the point at which the spirits of the dead rose to the heavens to be judged. Hence, the interior was almost completely a cemetery for both people and pokémon. Ghost-types lurked among the countless markers lining each floor, and outside, in the tiers leading up to the cloud-cloaked top, vulpix and meditite came to hone their spiritual powers while chimecho sang for the dead. At least, they did until the invasion. Now, ghost-types lurked the interior, remaining close to the high ceilings to avoid being disturbed by the parasites and the monsters infesting the mountain. The vulpix, the chimecho, and the meditite were all dead, desiccated and devoured within months.

Or, at least, almost all of them were.

The last chimecho on the mountain tried his best to avoid being captured, despite the persistence of his predators. He knew the best hiding places on the mountain, but many of them were filled with the red parasites by now. In any case, even if he tried to hide himself in one of his usual burrows, the larger monsters would somehow find him. That was exactly what happened. He thought the ridge behind the shrine would have provided him safety, but somehow, the creatures knew he was there. So, he no sooner drifted behind the rocky wall and attached himself to the underside of a ledge than a hand came down to snatch him, as if it had been waiting for him.

Currently, his ribbon-like tail was wrapped around the purple claws of a female ixodida. The creature's blue eyes fixed on the terrified chimecho as a grin crossed her tanned face. She was a petite figure with dark purple skin that glistened in the fog which covered the peak of the mountain. Purple wisps curled around her breasts and waist, framing the glowing, red core of the parasite just above her navel. Wisps wrapped around her ankles and wrists like trailing, smoky bracelets, and on her head, her hair was not much more than a crown of purple fog trailing into nothing. Behind her, a long tail ending in a sharp arrowhead twisted slowly like a snake.

Her long claws toyed with the chimecho's tail as a faint, red aura surrounded the psychic creature. The prey was trapped, and it was just a matter of time before the ixodida would finally bite into the trembling creature's body.

However, before she could, a warm feeling passed through her body. She turned, glancing towards the dark patches of night sky through the fog. A moment later, the fog stirred, and she heard the flapping of wings. With a smile, she wrapped the tail of the chimecho around her hand and pulled it towards the shrine to wait for the visitor. Her feet stepped onto the stone platform and the bones of the elderly couple who tried to protect one of Hoenn's most sacred places. She kicked the latter off the platform as soon as she touched them and stalked forward to the three pedestals in the middle of the shrine. Two of them held the only sources of light on the peak of the mountain: one crystal ball that glowed with the color of molten lava and its twin, glowing with the color of ocean waves. The last pedestal held nothing at all; it was on this that she set her prey.

"Welcome," she finally said.

Behind her, she heard the scraping of talons on stone. Turning, she saw the silhouette of her visitor, a flying-type ixodida who she knew had traveled halfway across the region to see her. As soon as she was noticed, the harpy dropped to a knee and bowed her head.

"My lady," she said.

The lady smiled in return. "Rise, my guardian of the wind. You come bearing news."

"Not good news, I fear," the harpy replied as she slowly stood. "I cannot tell whether you know or not, but there is a rogue in the Earth Guardian's domain. He is of the Iron Clan."

For a moment, the lady pursed her lips and fell silent. In the meantime, the Wind Guardian shifted uncomfortably.

"My lady?" she asked.

"Yes," the lady replied. "Yes, I know of his existence. You forget that I can sense every one of our kind in this colony, regardless of whether or not they obey me. He has a strong presence, but that is only natural for someone of his kind." She turned and glanced towards the red orb. "Furthermore, he is no longer in the Earth Guardian's domain. He is in the Fire Guardian's. It should be considered lucky that we have not yet rescued our dear brother from those humans yet."

"Lucky?" The Wind Guardian's eyes widened. "My lady, why should it be considered lucky? The Iron Clan has the potential to destroy us all!"

The lady looked over her shoulder. "He is only one, my guardian, and he has difficulties with his host. Besides…"

She turned back to the red orb. One of her hands reached to grasp its surface and hold it in front of her face. Her blue eyes studied the flickering light within it as her skin felt its heat in her palm.

"It would be interesting to see what he does," she added.

The Wind Guardian tilted her head. "But… my lady, do you think he is…"

She shook her head. "No. I do not think he is. I know he is." A grin crossed her face as she looked at the Wind Guardian again. "Do you think he remembers me?"

"_Him_," the Wind Guardian gasped as she held her head. "No, not him! Why, of all the planets our kind has spread to, has he followed us to ours?"

The lady's expression darkened. "Oh, guardian. Do you truly wish him on anyone else? In truth, our kind is lucky. He has fallen to a planet filled with weak hosts, and the Iron Clan's numbers are small here. Why should we worry about him?"

At that response, the Wind Guardian sighed. "Because it was his fault that our planet was destroyed."

"Perhaps it was, but we still live on." She grinned. "The Interplanetary Alliance and that senate of theirs may try time and time again to kill our entire people, but now, we are spread among all of their planets and scores of unaligned ones. We can rebuild a thousand empires like the one we once had, and they could never possibly wipe us all from existence. So, we should really have our former lord to thank for giving us more prosperity than any emperor before him could have dreamed possible."

The Wind Guardian's eyes widened to a near impossible degree. "My lady!"

She grinned. "As we speak, my knight of ice and other members of the Snow Clan are traveling to the humans' fortress to retrieve my guardian of fire. Until he arrives, go to his domain and watch the Iron rogue. If you get a chance, capture him and bring him to me. Perhaps I can gain something useful from his host. However, if either of them attempt to usurp my throne or ruin my colony, then you have my permission to kill him any way you please."

An electric shock traveled through the Wind Guardian's body, beginning with the base of her horns. Shivering, she bowed.

"Yes, my lady," she said.

Turning back to the pedestals, the lady examined each orb closely.

"Humans have such fascinating stories," she told her guardian. "It may be one thing I keep of theirs." She glanced over her shoulder for a third time. "He agrees, you know. He calls himself Adam now, after their first human."

"Adam," the Wind Guardian repeated.

Smiling, she nodded. "Yes. I believe I will take my name from the same story. From now on, I shall call myself Lilith."

Again, the Wind Guardian bowed. "Yes, my lady. It is a fitting name."

"Of course." She nodded and tilted her head. "You are dismissed, then, unless you have further information to share."

The Wind Guardian shook her head and straightened. For a beat, she hesitated, staring through the fog at her ruler with a frown. Then, without another word, she extended her wings, turned, and pushed off the ground.

Lilith turned back to the pedestals once again. She examined the red sphere in her hand closely before replacing it carefully, as if she thought it was just as holy an artifact as the humans in the region had. Then, her blue eyes swept towards the third pedestal, but only then did she see that the chimecho had escaped sometime during their conversation. With a smile, she sauntered to the empty pillar, turned, and gracefully pulled herself up to sit on it. Gazing at the obscured sky, she tilted her head.

"Adam," she said, "I can see you, but I cannot fathom what you may be thinking."

Then, her grin turned mischievous. Her tail twisted behind her like a cat's as a clawed hand rose to her mouth.

"I hope for our sake, it will make things interesting."


	16. Fifteen: Fire Is

Fifteen  
(Fire is only as dangerous as you let it be.)

Bill opened his eyes – or, rather "opened" them, as he was instantly aware that he wasn't actually in a physical place. It was the white room he'd seen once in an earlier dream, but this time, it was darker. The bed was harder, and he realized he couldn't move, save for turning his head. Out the window, he could see the blood-red light of a sunset, and between him and it, there his body sat.

Clenching his teeth, he looked hard at himself as the figure leaned back in a wooden chair. His legs crossed, and his dark eyes steadied themselves on what should have been their owner. Pale hands folded neatly over a red-clad knee as the human waited.

Staring at the blank, neutral expression on the face, Bill knew at once who it was.

"You made quite a scene out there," Adam commented.

Bill struggled to shake his head. He felt like something was sitting on his chest.

"No," he rasped. "No, you made me do that."

Adam raised an eyebrow. "Made you? What makes you think that?"

"I would never hurt anyone like that. Not Veronica. Not anyone," Bill replied. "You did something to me."

With a shrug, Adam answered, "That, Bill, was entirely you. Well, rather, our body. Bestial instincts. You see, my kind is very protective of anyone we see as a potential mate. You've chosen a candidate, but you didn't realize that would trigger… your baser self."

Bill felt something cold hit his chest. He had watched the parasite manipulate his form, watched the expression change into something so blank it scared Bill to look at his own face. The thing was a monster, yet… it was him.

He turned his head away and stared at the ceiling. With a squirm, he struggled against his invisible binds and whimpered. After the sound died away, he felt hands gently touching his arm. He didn't want to look, so instead, he turned to stare at the wall. In the meantime, Adam leaned to rest one knee on the bed as it lifted the arm by the wrist.

"The reason why you can't move isn't because of the spores," Adam said. "Look."

Bill's curiosity got to him, and he turned his head to glance at the arm Adam held. There, instead of skin and human fingers, he saw metal and claws – his ixodida arm. A shuddering cry tore from Bill's throat.

"What is this?" he whispered.

"Our form," Adam replied. "You see yourself as one of my kind now. You're adapting."

"Adapting? What do you mean?"

Adam sat on the edge of the bed. "You're beginning to change to become a creature better suited to that body. That is why my kind chose to fuse with yours. Your kind changes so easily."

"Changes… in…" Bill paused briefly as he suddenly felt cold. "In mind?"

Adam nodded. "Of course."

In the next instant, the silver hand curled around Adam's wrist. The parasite frowned.

"I don't want this," Bill hissed. "Please. Don't change me that way."

Adam's hand reached up to grab Bill's. The researcher found himself surprised by the alien's strength; he felt as if his bones were being crushed beneath its grip.

"Were you not listening?" it asked. "I am doing nothing to change you. Your mind is reshaping according to our body."

Despite the pain of Adam's grip, Bill clenched his teeth and grasped Adam's wrist as tightly as he could.

"Then, change me back," he replied. "You started this. Can't you make me human again?"

Suddenly, Adam grinned. Bill faltered as an uncertain frown grew across his face, and in the process, his grip on the alien loosened.

In the next instant, something erupted from the bed. Startled, Bill gasped and released Adam altogether as black hands burst from the mattress to grab his limbs. Adam calmly rose to its feet and watched Bill struggle as the hands pulled his arms and legs down to hold them down. Another wormed upwards beside his head and slipped its long fingers across his mouth before he could turn away from it, so instead, he screamed against its cold, stony skin as he stared helplessly at Adam.

"The process cannot be reversed," it said calmly. "Even if I had the power to begin your transformation back to your original form, you would die halfway through it, and in doing so, I, too, would no longer be able to live. The process would be far too traumatic to the both of us." It paused to lean over Bill. "Now, I must tell you something, and you will listen. If you refuse, you put us in grave danger – something far more serious than you may think you are in now."

Bill closed his eyes and tried once more to shrug off the hands. After a moment, he shuddered and relaxed in defeat. Adam straightened.

"First, you have noticed that other members of my kind call us monarch and rogue. Both are incredibly important terms, Bill. They define us. Literally. Neither are truly bad.

"The first concerns natural order – biology, really. Among my kind, there are two types of adults. There are monarchs, intelligent creatures born to lead our species. Then, there are drones, mindless, violent servants of the monarchs. This is how you know which is which."

Adam reached over Bill and grabbed his tail. Bill winced and twisted under the grip of the black hands as cold pain raced up his spine. Opening one eye, he saw Adam hold the arrowhead tip of his tail between two fingers.

The parasite released it and continued, "Drones lack a pointed tip on their own tails. Of course, you will also find that our fellow monarchs are superior conversationalists."

Pausing, Adam studied its host. Bill furrowed his eyebrows but made no attempt to look amused. Adam huffed and looked away.

"To understand what a rogue is, meanwhile, you must know how we organize ourselves socially," it stated. "Adults of the same type thrive in groups with others like them. We rely on each other to survive, to hunt, and to raise our young, and we can only trust those who share our abilities and weaknesses. Thus, all steel-types like us – drones and monarchs alike – live with each other in the Iron Clan, but this is only one out of sixteen different races within our species.

"The strongest monarch in each clan serves as its leader. These leaders not only maintain order within each clan, but they also form a court of sixteen representatives, one for each possible clan.

"At the lower end of the court, there are the knights, twelve individuals who govern only their respective elements. They serve the higher circles as both messengers and soldiers. Above them are the guardians, the four strongest clan leaders who not only lord over large swathes of territory but also serve as personal body guards and advisors to the strongest ixodida in existence."

Adam paused for dramatic effect. Glancing at Bill, it found its host still. Adam's eyes moved to its lap, where it folded its hands once again.

"The empress. Or the emperor, whichever the case may be. Our ruler. All of our kind answers to her without question… except people like us."

It turned its head to look at Bill one more time to ensure that it ensnared his full attention. Bill had no choice but to stare at his partner. His mind was already blank, his thoughts shocked until the only thing running through his head were Adam's words. At that point, Adam spoke with a low, hushed tone.

"We are rogues," it said. "We are monarchs capable of intelligent thought, and as such, we can decide for ourselves whether to follow our empress or to defy her. Defiance is rare, with good reason. Those who refuse the empress are labeled traitors. Many do not live long after that. The court guarantees this."

Shuddering, Bill closed his eyes. He realized the arms weren't about to let him go. Squirming, he switched to the silent channel he shared with the parasite.

_Why…?_

Adam rested its chin on a palm. "I assume you are not questioning the obvious of why we should not expect to exist in quiet safety, so instead, I will answer other whys. There exist many possible reasons why a rogue chooses to defect, but mine is very simple. The empress that sits on the throne now is corrupt. She oppresses my people and turns them into her personal army to eradicate or enslave your kind. Believe me when I say were are not normally a cruel race. We do only what we must to survive and nothing more."

It stopped to look over its shoulder again. Adam knew all too well that it made Bill feel like he was being addressed directly, and sure enough, the researcher stopped struggling or looking terrified. He instead fixed his gaze on his partner and did nothing more.

"Bill, you are a unique human," it told him. "By luck, I found someone with impressive intellect and a passion for advancing his species. What I gave you should not be considered a curse. It is a gift. Combine that cleverness and will you possess with my strength and understanding of my species, and together, we will protect the remainder of your kind by stopping the empress herself."

There was a long pause. Slowly, one of the black hands slipped from Bill's mouth, and he took a shuddering breath.

"I…" He swallowed. "I…"

The fingers of each hand holding him down tightened. Adam watched them twist around one of Bill's arms, and upon realizing what was happening, it jumped. As it knelt over him, it slammed one hand down on either side of Bill's head and leaned close to his face.

"You will not refuse, and you will not retreat. You will understand that there may be no one else who will save your people. Do you forsake them?"

Bill shuddered and closed his eyes. "Adam… how can I help them when I…"

Adam frowned. "You believe that little scratch you gave that silly girl means your human self is getting weaker, but the assumption makes you an idiot. I refuse to have a weak host; you cannot remain the tender-hearted mouse you were as a human. Experience reshapes the minds your people possess, and it is the human gift to adapt and control what your kind becomes. You already know this. I know you do."

Staring steadily at his partner, Bill opened his mouth slightly in surprise. "What?"

Sighing, Adam responded, "There are two ways we may proceed. The first is that you allow yourself to go feral. Your body will dictate what it needs, and your human self and I will live like drones, trapped within your mind until something finally kills our body. The second is that you realize that no matter what happens, as a human, you possess the ability to learn and grow. All of this is you. Conquer it and control it. That is how you will become strong enough to survive."

Its words hit Bill hard, and he felt as if the wind was knocked out of him. Exhaling, he watched his partner carefully. Slowly, Adam pulled away from him and moved off the bed to stand beside it. It looked down, locking its eyes directly on Bill's as it stood over him.

"Well?" it drawled.

For a long moment, Bill froze, uncertain of what Adam wanted. Then, the hands holding them tightened their grips until he could feel sharp pain emanating from his arms and legs. Wincing, he craned his neck to examine them. They felt like ice against his skin, and their nails were digging into him, piercing his armor and his flesh like thousands of hypodermic needles. At that very moment, he began to feel them, countless worms under his skin, wriggling in an attempt to consume his body from the inside out.

It was then that he realized what they were, and they were no extension of Adam. They felt natural, like they were always there, but at the same time, he could feel the creature crawling towards his brain from a place somewhere in his chest. He could only imagine what it would do if it succeeded in burrowing into his brain, in seizing control of him and forcing him to do whatever it wanted.

The sensation was him, but at the same time, it wasn't. It was the urge to rip apart another living creature, to hunt, to fight, and to be free. More than anything else, it was something that wanted him, something that desired to ensnare him and make him part of its own. He closed his eyes. To him, it was intoxicating, a temptation that felt like it would fill an emptiness he hadn't realized was inside him. Below that, however, he felt the pain of something cold.

In response, he balled his hands into fists and tightened his muscles.

"No," he whispered. "I won't let you have me."

Adam crossed its arms. "What?"

Drawing in a breath, Bill pushed against the hands still outside of him. At first, nothing happened, and after a few moments of no progress, he relaxed, briefly spent.. Closing his eyes, he gathered as much strength as he could muster, digging deep into himself to summon everything he had, everything that wasn't yet touched. Then, he pushed.

The arms cracked, and the fingers retreated, rushing out of his body like a breath. Their grip on the outside of his flesh loosened.

Bill screamed through gritting teeth. "Get… _OFF!_"

With one more push, the arms shattered, raining black shards all over him and across the bed. He sat up, panting and staring at the shards as they turned liquid and rolled into the hard mattress. His limbs felt numb and useless at his sides.

Adam took a step back. "Congratulations. Perhaps you are not as weak as you seem. I may just be impressed. However, the struggle is hardly over. You drove it back, but that part of you will return. Do not let it control you, and do not exterminate it altogether. It is not entirely bad, either."

It turned. Bill forced himself to look at it, but he felt an overwhelming wave of weakness wash over him as soon as he moved. Adam didn't look, although it seemed to notice.

"Rest," it said. "Now that you know everything, we must begin training as soon as we are released."

Breathing hard, Bill found he didn't have the strength to argue. Instead, he lay his head on the pillow and stared at the white ceiling for awhile.

Soon, although he didn't realize it, everything went dark and silent.

---

Veronica made a mistake. She should have known it was going to be a mistake as soon as she saw the silhouette of the security booth outside Littleroot Town. Yet, for whatever reason, she didn't think much of it until she approached its square walls. Almost immediately, the lights from the booth flashed on, and in her squints and flinches, Veronica couldn't see the forms of two men stepping out of the booth. If she had, she might have seen the green uniforms of the NDF, but even then, she really didn't need to see to know who they were. After all, before she had a chance to say a word, their voices boomed for them to freeze on order of the military.

The next few moments were a jumble to Veronica. She remembered being taken at gunpoint past a tent city just beyond the chain link fence to a building just south of it. The place had once been a home, but the family had fled before the quarantine came down. Soon after that, the NDF took it as the center of their Littleroot base, but the possessions that the family owned and abandoned in the rush to leave still decorated the house. In that house, as family pictures on walls stared down at her, Veronica remembered being stripped, being poked, and being examined, and finally, a dark-haired doctor came along to look at the cut across her arm. She didn't know what they did with Rose. Rose was led to another room, and no matter how much Veronica demanded to be placed with the girl, the NDF ignored anything that didn't answer their questions.

Even as the doctor was busy examining the cut, there was a man in uniform, one with bars on its sleeve, standing in front of Veronica as she sat on a queen-sized bed. In the corner of the room, another man in a uniform sat on a wooden chair with a laptop on his lap. Every so often, the doctor would reach behind him for an instrument on a metal tray placed on the dresser, but Veronica wasn't watching him. Instead, her eyes were fixed completely on the lieutenant in front of her.

"Name and occupation," he demanded.

"Veronica Jenny of Mauville City," she replied. "Former police."

The lieutenant frowned. "Why are you not in your precinct?"

"There is no precinct in Mauville anymore," Veronica growled. "Every citizen except me is dead or infected. It didn't make sense for me to stay."

"How did you get here?"

"On foot. I've been traveling with that girl for a couple months now."

"That girl?"

Veronica winced, trying to pass the expression off as a reaction to the pain from the doctor cleaning her wound. She knew better than to argue with an officer of the military, but she was heavily tempted to ask him if his colleagues weren't already drilling the girl enough as it is.

"Rose McKenzie," she finally replied. "Pokémon coordinator. I don't know where she's from."

The lieutenant nodded. "What is your business in Littleroot Town?"

"Where else are we going to go? Ixodida are infesting the rest of the region. I thought an NDF zone would be ixodida-free. Rose is just a kid. She can't be anywhere where she's not going to be protected."

At that point, the lieutenant glanced over his shoulder at the other man.

"Are you still recording, private?" he asked.

Without hesitating, the subordinate nodded. "Yes, sir!"

"Good. Starting the main questioning." Turning back, the lieutenant frowned. "How did you injure your arm?"

Veronica's eyebrows rose as she glanced towards the doctor. He was busy threading a needle in preparation for the first stitches. Glancing back, she did her best to keep her face neutral.

"I fell," she said without reacting as the needle went through her skin the first time.

"Fell?" the lieutenant asked.

Veronica nodded. "It's really dark out there, you know? I couldn't see a ledge, so I ended up falling onto something sharp. I guess there was some sharp rock under the ledge, but I couldn't really see it."

"What were you doing traveling at night, then?"

"We had to get here as soon as possible. It's Hell out there, sir. You don't know if there's an ixodida lurking around, so you're always on guard. Here, you don't have to worry so much."

There was a long pause after she spoke as the lieutenant stared at her. During that time, the doctor finished her stitches and cut the final thread, and at that, Veronica felt a sense of relief. Yet, on the other hand, it was quickly replaced by discomfort towards the lieutenant's stare – one that was unwavering. Eventually, he finally turned to the doctor, glancing at him with gray eyes.

"Well?" he asked.

The doctor shook his head. "The wound doesn't match."

At once, Veronica's heart nearly stopped as she turned towards the doctor. "What do you mean, 'The wound doesn't match'?"

"You said you fell on a rock," the doctor replied with a shrug. "That would be a puncture wound. This is a cut."

One word traveled through Veronica's mind at that point: _Shit._

Shaking her head free from the thought, Veronica narrowed her eyes at the doctor. "Who said I stopped? Sure, I fell on a rock, but then I sort of slid a little more down the slope. It caught my arm. There you go."

Calmly, the doctor grasped her arm and examined the stitches. "What's strange is that the cut is deep and clean. I didn't have to remove any soil or detritus that would indicate the patient fell on the ground. Moreover, the cut was to the muscle, and the edges weren't ripped. It was like she got it from a knife."

_Shit,_ Veronica thought. _Shit, shit, shit, shit! I'm supposed to know what this kind of thing looks like! What's wrong with me?!_

The lieutenant nodded and stepped forward. "As a former officer of the law, you should know that it's illegal to withhold information from an investigation."

"This is an investigation?" Veronica snapped. She wasn't in the mood for protocol anymore.

Ignoring her tone, the lieutenant responded as if he was reciting something he'd said countless times. "All military personnel here are required to inspect thoroughly all arrivals to Littleroot Town. Moreover, we are ordered to investigate any suspicious behavior in any arrival, as this may indicate a possible threat to the security of this base." He leaned in, placing his hands on the bed on either side of Veronica. "So, I'll ask you plainly, ma'am. What attacked you in Littleroot Forest?"

"And I'll say it plainly," Veronica replied. "Nothing did. There was an accident. That's all."

The lieutenant straightened with a frown. His eyes fixed on her as he thought for a moment. Then, glancing back at the private, he jerked his head towards Veronica. Nodding, the private stood and made his way towards her.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"Confiscate her pokémon," the lieutenant ordered. "This woman and her companion are to be detained until we can get a proper answer."

Immediately, Veronica was on her feet. "You can't do that without a warrant! Don't touch me!"

However, her protests were ignored. The private pulled Growlithe's poké ball from her belt and turned away from her. She, meanwhile, tried to reach for it to take it back, but the doctor and the private grabbed her arms. Turning away from her, the lieutenant walked nonchalantly to the computer and tapped a few keys.

"Lieutenant Black to Major Hawker," he said. "We've got uncooperative detainees in Sector 1. The doctor's analysis of the injuries one of them has sustained indicates a possible threat outside the northern border."

Upon hearing the statement, Veronica shrugged the hands off her. "There's nothing up there! I fell!"

Out of the computer's speakers, a female voice drifted. "Excellent work, lieutenant. Reinforcements will be sent to the northern border to investigate. Until then, I want to meet these detainees."

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

Then, with a press of a button, the screen of the laptop went blank. The lieutenant turned towards Veronica, who took a step backwards.

"Oh, no, you don't!" she snapped. "Give me my growlithe. You're not laying a hand on me!"

Lieutenant Black shook his head. "Restrain her. I'm going to confiscate the girl's pokémon."

"Don't touch me!" Veronica barked.

The doctor and the private reached out to grab her, but Veronica swung around, letting her leg cut across the air in a hook kick. Her strike didn't land on either of them, but it caused them to hesitate just enough to let her rush after Black. She tried to grab his arm, but before she could, he slipped out of the room and walked to the next door down the hall. This time, Veronica had time enough to seize him, which resulted in him executing a palm strike to her chest so quick she didn't even see it happen. She only felt herself slam into the opposite wall and slide down as a pain radiated from her sternum and her breath came in short gasps.

Looking up, her eyes fixed on his back. She heard him bark an order to grab the girl's pokémon, but she couldn't force herself to her feet just yet. It was the private, after darting out of the first room and to her side, who grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet. From that angle, she could see a woman in camouflage garb grabbing five poké balls from a man standing with his uniformed back turned to the door. Veronica froze, knowing that the balls contained Rose's team and Kirlia. The two of them would be unprotected for whatever the NDF had in mind.

Then, something worse happened. The man drew out a sixth poké ball from Rose's pocket.

Drawing in a gasp, Veronica yanked at her arm, trying to pull away from the private. It only resulted in the military officer tightening his grip on her arm. Veronica clenched her teeth and stared helplessly at the ball as it was handed to the woman. She knew that if she said anything, there was a chance they'd open it. On the other hand, there was another chance they'd open it without them present, and Veronica knew Bill couldn't defend himself while he was paralyzed.

Unfortunately, before she could make up her mind about what needed to be done, Rose screamed and reached for the last ball frantically. The man who had taken them from her grabbed her wrist with one hand and wrapped his free arm around her waist. Rose tried to pull away, stretching her other hand towards the ball while she shrieked and cried. Taking a step back, the woman looked toward her superior. Black shifted on his feet.

"Open that one," he said. "If it's small, we'll let her keep it during the interrogation. That should calm her down."

Reflexively, Veronica stepped forward. "_No!_"

The lieutenant turned, arching his pale eyebrows as he studied her briefly. Then, he turned back to his subordinates.

"Open that one," he repeated in a colder tone.

With a nod, the woman placed the other five poké balls on a nearby table, just beyond Veronica's line of sight. Then, the woman's dark thumb found the button on the front. The button clicked, and the ball enlarged in her hand. Her finger pressed the button on the front again, and Veronica could hear the unmistakable sound of the object popping open. White light filled the room before fading in seconds to reveal a lump that lay on the floor. That object, understandably, caused all three military officers who could see it to swear loudly and whip guns from the holsters at their hips. The private, as a reflex, did the same, releasing Veronica and allowing her to dart forward, shove past the lieutenant, and enter the bedroom.

It was a small place, possibly a room that once held a child, judging by the rainbow-colored pokémon paintings that still hung on the walls. A bed sat in the corner where a second doctor sat, stupefied by the thing on the floor. The main source of light in the room was the early morning sun passing through the windows in the wooden walls. A metal table had been set up near the door to hold a computer, a coffee maker, and now, Rose's poké balls. The floor had a rug, but Veronica could only see the red corner of it under her ixodida companion.

Bill was shivering, in part from the numb sensation running through his body and in part from fear. His muscles still felt stiff from paralysis, but he strained himself to look up at the lieutenant and the pistol he held. Veronica dropped to her knees beside him, but she stopped just shy of touching him. On his cloak, she could see a golden glitter of spores.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Step away from the ixodida!" Black roared.

Veronica turned to him. "Put your gun down! He's not going to hurt you!"

"Step away from it!" he replied. "Back away to the wall! Now!"

At that point, Veronica stood and opened her mouth to say something else when she heard a sharp scratching. Looking down, she could see Bill digging his claws into the floor as he fixed his gaze on her legs.

"Do what he says," he whispered hoarsely.

The female officer fumbled with her gun in surprise. "Jesus Christ."

Biting her lip, Veronica furrowed her eyebrows. Then, after a pause, she slowly backed away to stand next to the female officer. In the meantime, Bill struggled against the stiffness of his joints to kneel in front of the lieutenant. The latter cocked his gun with a click and kept his hands steady.

"Don't move!" the lieutenant barked. "Private Adler, call for backup!"

The man behind Black didn't hesitate. Fluidly, he raced towards the other room with only a "yes, sir" as confirmation. Bill, meanwhile, continued to stare at the gun as he quickly tried to come up with some way to get out of his situation.

"I won't hurt you," he whispered, although the pale expression on his face told Veronica that even he doubted that.

Before she could think about it, his body seized up again, and he doubled over as he felt a rush of numbness freeze his limbs. Veronica straightened.

"He's been paralyzed," she said. "He needs help!"

Black didn't move except to narrow his eyes. He kept his glance locked on the creature on the floor.

"What the hell are you two doing with an ixodida?" he snapped.

Rose shrank, unable to speak or do anything except shake on her feet. Veronica glanced at her first and then back at Black. She didn't dare step forward for fear that one of the military officers would shoot. It didn't help that her own gun had been taken from her along with her other possessions.

"He's our friend," Veronica replied. "Look, he won't hurt you as long as you don't do anything to threaten him, okay? Put your gun down!"

Black refused to look at Veronica. He could only stare at the trembling alien on the floor as he looked up at his companion. There was an expression on the ixodida's face that Black couldn't entirely understand. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was slightly open.

_Surprise,_ Black thought as he slowly lowered his gun. _It doesn't have its guard up. Careful._

Veronica took a step forward. "He needs help. He got caught in some Stun Spore. It was an accident, and—"

"It attacked you," Black said. "That's why it's looking at you like that."

Bill cringed, feeling his body locking on its hands and knees in that position. Lifting his head, he stared at the lieutenant with a mixture of helplessness and guilt. Narrowing his eyes, Black raised his gun again.

"You have no proof of that," Veronica whispered.

Black nodded. "Yeah, I do. Look at how it's reacting."

"You ever think that's maybe because he doesn't like being threatened?" Veronica answered icily.

Ignoring her, Black thumbed the hammer of his pistol. "It'll get all the help it needs." He glanced over his shoulder to the female officer. "Recall it and bring it to Birch Institute. See what Joshua has to say about it. The rest of you—" He glanced towards the other officers. "—will take these two into custody for further questioning."

Veronica shouted something, but before she could fight, two of the officers darted into the room to grab her. She struggled, trying to push forward to grab Black as he turned to the female officer. The latter lifted Bill's poké ball as the ixodida struggled to stand.

However, before he could make it to his feet, he was engulfed by a red light. Seconds later, he lost sight of the outside world.

---

Polaris Institute was smaller than when Professor Oak had left it. The Inner Ring was almost but not quite finished, and half of the Median Ring was closed off. That left only a handful of laboratories on the eastern side of the bull's-eye-shaped complex and the Outer Ring of dormitories and essential offices. At the same time, the lack of space hardly hindered the Kanto branch of Project Stardust. Oak wondered whether it was because the Committee was relying on data from other regions or if it was because Polaris was far too large for what they needed anyway.

In any case, Tracey wheeled him down the all-too-familiar hallways as they traveled beside Professor Nettle. The woman's face with its shadows beneath the eyes made her look slightly more tired than she had been when Oak had last seen her, but on the other hand, she stood straight and spoke to her teams with a sharper snap than she had ever used as simply the head of the psychology department. Oak could tell she was stressed by the way she carried herself, so that made his acceptance of her invitation – her plea for his help – a bit more valid in his mind.

Through e-mails sent to him in the past week, she told him about a problem without specifying what it was. All he knew was that it needed his presence and expertise, and she was, according to her letters, getting desperate. By luck, the Rousseau sisters had arrived earlier that week to join his efforts in discovering more about the ixodida, and the sisters were more than willing to take care of the lab for him, not that he really needed someone to watch over the laboratory. After all, both Riko and Delia were just as eager volunteers. Hence, he had no problem asking Tracey to help him travel to Cinnabar Island one more time to answer Nettle's plea.

"Thank you again for coming," Nettle said as she led him down another corridor.

Oak grinned. "It's my pleasure, Professor Nettle. From the way you were insisting on having me here, it sounds like you're in quite a jam."

"Well, we're not in dire need of help," she replied. "However, even after pushing my teams to their limits, we've only been able to come to a dead end."

She approached a door with a black panel next to it. Her hand slipped into a pocket and produced from its folds a keycard that she swiped in a slot along the panel's side. A small, red light shone on its face as a panel extended beneath it. Pressing her hand to the pad, Nettle watched the red light blink before a green light next to it lit up. Her free hand grasped the silver door handle and pushed it downward to swing the door open.

Inside, the room was just another observation room, much like the ones Oak had frequented as the head of the institute. Machines lined the left and right walls of the room while the far wall was taken up almost completely by a window next to a metal door. Most of the scientists in the room either huddled at the window or around a tank just to the left of the door. Passing by the latter, Oak looked through the group to see the box filled with red water. A pulsing light flashed across it every so often, seemingly in response to what was going on at the window.

Past the window, Oak could see that there was a room much like the one that held his former colleague at one point. It was only a small room with barely enough space for a bed, a table, and a chair. At one point, he knew it had pristine, white walls, but now, they had black and gray spots all over their empty expanses. After a few seconds, he could see why as a jet of flames burst upwards and struck the window, causing the scientists to take a half-step backwards.

Drawing in a breath, Oak put his hands on the wheels of his chair to signal Tracey to stop. His young assistant froze, moving his eyes cautiously towards the window.

"What was that?" Oak asked.

Nettle slipped her hands into her pockets. "That, Professor Oak, would be our problem. His name is Prometheus."

Turning his head sharply, Oak stared at Nettle. Then, cautiously, he tugged on the wheels of his chair, pulling himself away from his assistant to move closer to the window. The line of scientists parted with murmurs of surprise towards their former superior. Hardly noticing their reaction, Oak wheeled up to the window and peered into the room. From that angle, he couldn't quite see much of the space beyond the barrier, but as the flames died down, he could see what Nettle termed "the problem."

Prometheus stood tall, and judging by the muscles of his red-skinned body, Oak figured he might have been young before he was changed. Flames and smoke billowed from his flesh, climbing up his legs to engulf the bottom half of his torso and dance on his shoulders and upper arms. His head itself was almost like a torch, with fire dancing on his bare scalp and surrounding a pair of round horns. Claws on his hands flexed as he narrowed his blue eyes at the window. Across his long, pale face was a sharp frown while behind him, a glowing, orange tail flicked back and forth.

Oak tore his eyes away from the creature long enough to glance at Nettle. She crossed her arms.

"Prometheus is a fairly young addition to our studies," Nettle explained. "He was created only a few months ago. However, so far, he's been mostly uncontrollable."

At her comment, Oak thought back to Pandora, to Bill, and to the rock-type that was responsible for his missing leg. A small frown tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"It's possible that Bill's case was unique," Oak replied. "I haven't yet been able to find another XP-494B that wasn't hostile."

Nettle shook her head. "That isn't exactly the problem. In the past few days, Prometheus has become increasingly angrier. All he does is attack the window and the walls. He refuses to eat. He doesn't sleep. He simply stands there and attacks. It started ever since we brought our tank with XP-494A into this room to keep it here during the reconstruction of its holding tank in Laboratory 18. It's been acting strange as well, flashing now and then. We know there's a connection, but for the life of us, we can't find what it is."

Oak eyed Nettle carefully as he let her explanation sink into his brain. Then, he turned towards the window again, just in time to see another jet of flames pound the window. It lasted for a few seconds before dying down, revealing Prometheus standing calmly in the middle of the room again.

"Open a channel," Oak said. "Let me talk to him."

One of the interns at the control panel hesitated as she glanced towards Oak. Then, slowly, she pressed a button on its face. There was a click, and in a long quiet after that, Oak only heard crackling coming from the speakers.

Taking a deep breath, he took the first step. "Hello! I'm Professor Oak. I'm here to learn more about you."

Prometheus stared at the window and the professor for a long moment in complete silence. Behind the group, the ixodida parasite flashed once more, and the red gleam caught the adult's eye.

Then, the creature screamed.

In seconds, fire burst from his red skin, causing the scientists – Oak included – to stumble backwards. Flames quickly engulfed the ixodida as he launched forward, slamming both of his clawed hands into the glass separating him from the rest of the laboratory. Although his mouth couldn't be seen through the inferno, a piercing shriek shook the walls.

Tracey took another step back to stand closer to the middle of the room. His large hands flexed, and he tensed, prepared to dash forward and snatch the handles of his mentor's wheelchair.

"Professor, are we safe here?" he asked quietly.

Oak nodded. "Of course. The observation rooms were designed to withstand just about any pokémon attack possible."

The core of the fire began to glow bright red, as if the ixodida had turned into nothing but a pillar of flames. At that point, upon recognizing the attack, Oak shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Withstanding temperatures in excess of the ones on the surface of the sun, however," he murmured. "Tracey, stay back!"

In the next instant, orange-gold fire burst from the head of the ixodida and slammed into the window. At first, the inferno simply billowed outwards in all directions the instant it hit the barrier, and the window itself hardly moved. Seconds passed, however, and a black circle began to form where the attack struck as the window wobbled and creaked. Slowly, the ixodida leaned into the window to press his attack into the pane until each blast struck with resounding bangs.

Drawing in a breath, Tracey grabbed the back of Oak's wheelchair and began pulling his mentor backwards, through the crowd of retreating scientists. Oak looked up with knitted eyebrows.

"Tracey?" he asked. "What are you doing?"

The watcher shook his head. "Sorry, Professor, but—"

Before he could say another word, a large crack rose from the window. The fire pressed against it a little further, and with a snap, it broke and fell to the floor in large, jagged pieces. A fireball blasted into the room, engulfing both of the interns who had barely managed to miss being sliced in half by the pieces of the window just seconds ago.

The scientists scattered, some racing towards buttons while others darted for the door. Tracey swung around, wheeling Oak as quickly as he could towards the exit while alarms blared overhead. The roar of fire rose as screams and the smell of burning flesh gave Tracey enough of a reason not to look back. His mind blanked, and his vision narrowed to only the path straight ahead; he couldn't even hear Professor Oak's voice protesting the retreat, much less anything else.

Hence, he didn't notice that, as another blast – a burst of fire, the boom of a computer going up in smoke – rocked the observation room, the tank beside the door shook and shattered. He didn't notice, of course, until someone grabbed him. Oak, watching Tracey pull away and fall between scrambling scientists, cried out and grabbed the wheels of his chair, but before he could turn around, the swarm pushed him out of the room.

Tracey, meanwhile, hit the tiled floor in a puddle of water. He looked up just in time to see the face of Professor Nettle stare down at him briefly before she turned away and joined the crowds heading out of the room. In his distraction from the shock of hitting the floor hard, he felt something pinch his hand. Wincing, he tried to look down, but before he could, a flash of red approached and stood over him.

Prometheus's pale face swam in a sea of red and orange, and his eyes were sharp and clear as they fixed themselves on Tracey. For awhile, only a silence descended between them. The room was empty by then, and Tracey realized at that point that no one was going to come back in to save him. His hands pushed him backwards across the floor as the glass cut into his palms. However, he didn't have far to go. His back soon hit the legs of the table on which the tank formerly sat, and he was forced to remain there, staring up at the adult ixodida.

Then, Prometheus snorted and smirked. Without a single word or attack towards Tracey, the adult turned and walked out the door, his orange tail swishing behind him. At the door, he turned to the left and walked calmly down the empty hall and around a corner.

After a few minutes, Oak wheeled himself around a corner at the opposite end of the hall. It hadn't taken much to tear himself away from a panicked scientist, and at least the wheelchair rolled faster than he could run. By the time he reached the wrecked laboratory again, Tracey had managed to struggle to his feet and make his way to the door.

The young watcher leaned against the doorframe, his eyes closed and his right hand wrapped around his left arm. His clothes were still wet from the liquid on the floor of the observational room, and blood trickled down his fingers and dripped onto the tile beside his feet. He winced as sharp pains laced up his arm, and as he tightened his grip around it, he forced his eyes open to look at his mentor. Oak's eyes were automatically drawn to the watcher's left hand, and upon seeing it, his face paled.

"Professor," Tracey rasped, "are you all right?"

Oak struggled to find his breath, but somehow, he managed to inhale and speak. "Tracey… your hand…"

His assistant forced himself to lift his left hand and examine it. The gashes across the palm were still a bright, liquid red, and he was about to explain how that happened when something else caught his eye. On the edge of his left hand, something moved under his skin. His eyes widened as slowly, he turned it over and leaned all his weight on the doorframe. Gradually, he slid down until he sat on the floor, but all the while, he stared helplessly at the red jewel now embedded in the flesh on the back of his left hand.

Little by little, his gaze rose to look into Oak's face, but when he did, he could see the old professor stare back at him silently.

"Professor," Tracey murmured.

After a long pause, Oak exhaled.

"Not again," he whispered.


	17. Sixteen: Over And

Sixteen  
(Night falls over and over and over again.)

Cinnabar Island had always been known for its warm temperatures year-round with good reason. Most of the island was shadowed by an active volcano that, on a constant basis, sent plumes of dark smoke rising high above its peak to be carried away from the island by seagoing winds. Above it, the sun shone brightly nearly every day, aided in part by the fire-types that made their home in the abandoned Pokémon Mansion. So, the nights, like that particular night, were still warm with the residue of the daylight.

Currently, just beyond a ridge along its southern shore, the shallow water was frozen, leading up to an iceberg floating several feet from the shore. If one looked closely enough – which many people didn't, as this portion of land was separated from the rest of the island by the walled and heavily guarded Polaris Institute – they might see the ice move periodically, as if it rippled and crawled across itself.

Screams rose from the facility not far away, and the moving stopped. Several eyes all over the iceberg opened and stared at the building as a blast of fire rose into the sky. Slowly, one of the pairs of eyes descended and pulled itself from the mountain. As soon as she crawled onto the frozen shallows, the female ixodida rose to her feet. She shivered, the crystals on her white skin catching the moonlight like prisms with each shake of her body. With crystal fingers, she tossed her long, white hair over a shoulder as she narrowed her blue eyes at the fire. Behind her, her arrowhead-tipped tail twisted.

One last ball of flames blasted through the thick wall surrounding the complex, and a blazing figure strolled onto the beach. With each step, the fire died down until it became only flickering embers across red skin. Prometheus strode forward, his blank stare fixed directly on the ice queen. As soon as he touched the frozen shallows, it melted beneath his feet, and he stood in the pools to eye his companion.

"You are the knight of the Snow Clan," he said.

She nodded. "I am. I was sent b—"

"There is no need to tell me who sent you." He straightened, lifting his chest. "I am the empress's chosen of the Flame Clan. Do you really think she would leave me in imprisonment for long? Moreover, I do not need an escort."

Jets of flame burst from his back as a pair of long, broad, orange moth wings grew from his shoulder blades. He flapped them once, and the air rippled around him with heat, lifting him towards the night sky. The ice queen tilted her head back to keep her eyes on the Fire Guardian.

"There is a rogue from the Iron Clan in your domain," she told him. "Your orders are to capture him and bring him to the empress, not destroy him."

The Fire Guardian scoffed, causing flames to ripple from his red skin. "A member of the Iron Clan? I thought we had executed all of those bastards on our home planet."

"Only the majority, if you recall, my lord."

He lowered himself back to the ground but kept his feet suspended an inch above the ice. Already, the layer began to dissolve under the rippling air beneath his claws.

"Yes, I recall," he said in a low voice. "So, one of the remainders has fallen to this planet."

The ice queen kept her chin up as she moved her eyes to glance at the Fire Guardian. "We should hope the Iron Clan's numbers are as few as one here."

"And a rogue, no less. How ironic."

"Very ironic, my lord."

The Fire Guardian nodded slowly and flapped his wings once more. All at once, the ice coating the shallows broke apart, and the ice queen and her entourage screeched and clung to their iceberg. As if unaware of their reaction, the Fire Guardian rose towards the sky and glided through the night air in a streak of flames.

"This," he murmured to himself, "should be very interesting."

---

In the Committee's dark meeting room, First sat quietly. He stared at his companions, but although they bickered loudly enough to fill the room with a low hum of overlapping voices, he said nothing. Instead, he simply listened as they spoke.

"Polaris Institute is lost," Fourth announced. "Much of the complex has been destroyed to the point where we would need billions to come close to getting it suitable for running again."

Second nodded. "A fourth ixodida has been created, and Prometheus has escaped. The NDF have been unable to locate either."

"Sheer incompetence!" Third snapped. "Just as they had protecting the facility in the first place! And Adam--!"

"Located in Littleroot," Fifth replied calmly. "Healthy but disturbed. I vote that we keep him there."

"We've gotten far more information from him when he was in the wild than we could get if he was contained. I vote against," Third answered.

Fifth turned to Third. "So you would condemn him to death? An initial observation from the NDF's retrieval crew reveals psychological instability."

"If I may," Second drawled, "employee evaluations from Polaris indicate a slight psychological instability _before_ the time of infection."

"We are ignoring the main point," Fourth snapped. "Four ixodida have been created in the same institution within the space of four months. Something is wrong here."

"What are you suggesting?" Second asked.

"There may have been inside involvement," Fourth answered. "Someone is trying to interfere with our progress."

"Who?"

Fourth leaned back. "We will need to investigate."

Second turned. "All of the scientists have been split between Saffron's Silph Laboratories and New Bark's Elm Institute. Tracking all of them down—"

"All of them?" Second inquired. "Where is Professor Nettle?"

Another silence lapsed between all five members of the Committee. After awhile, Fourth looked at the table.

"She and a few others are unaccounted for, yes."

"First," Third said, "you've been rather quiet. What do you make of all this?"

At that, First inhaled and shifted in his seat. "We will give the orders for Adam's release. There is nothing we can learn from keeping him captive. His purpose now is to locate the queen for us."

"Sir!" Fifth gasped.

"As for Polaris Institute," First continued, "we will need to contact Professor Westwood to use his laboratory as a replacement. Polaris is gone, and Saffron is located in the heart of Kanto. It would be too dangerous to use it.

"I agree with Fourth. The infections and attacks are far too frequent to be simply accidents. We must contact Professor Nettle. We need the results of her investigations into Prometheus's creation.

"In the meantime, locate the fourth ixodida."

"To catalogue it, sir?" Fourth asked.

"No," he said. "Locate it because Heaven help us if it found its way to the mainland."

---

Delia walked down the sunny hall to the door of the locked room. It had been over a week since Professor Oak had come back with Tracey, the latter of whom was in pain with a strange wound on his left hand. Oak said nothing. All he did was arrange for Tracey to be kept in his bedroom. The locks were reversed to allow the door to be locked from the outside, and, as if that wasn't enough security, Oak's dragonite stood guard beside it.

Since then, Oak, Lanette, and Brigette came and went from the room with boxes and supplies, but not a sound was heard from any of them. Instead, occasionally, Delia would hear screams – loud, sharp yells from Tracey. It made Delia shake. Often, she tried to avoid the room for that reason, but occasionally, when she was at the laboratory to do what she could to help, she found herself wandering right back to the door to stand outside and listen helplessly to his screams.

Presently, she approached the door and stopped near it. She would have stood squarely in front of it, but someone else was already there. The small woman, the wife of one of Oak's colleagues, stood with her hands clenched at her sides as she listened to a new batch of screams. Slowly, Delia made her way to her companion's side.

She hadn't interacted with Riko that often; the woman was far too intense, far too focused on keeping herself busy sorting through e-mails in the laboratory to make friends with the Pallet woman. Delia understood. Ash was her only son. She couldn't imagine losing him to the waves of ixodida, but she knew she wouldn't exactly be friendly to everyone around her either if that happened. Delia could only admire Riko for her strength – the kind of courage to feel the pain of losing a child twice but _still_ want to go on.

After a minute, Riko said, "Mrs. Ketchum, tell me about your son. Professor Oak mentioned him once, and I'm curious."

Delia jumped. She didn't think Riko had noticed her.

"Ash?" she asked softly. Then, she turned her head. "I'm blessed to have him. He's such a good boy. He's very loyal, very generous, and the bravest boy that's come out of this town. You know, he's been in the finals of several league competitions, right? I don't mean to brag; it's just that he loves being a trainer so much."

Riko turned to smile at the other woman. "You sound proud of him."

"Oh yes!" Delia exclaimed. "I'm very lucky to have him."

With that, Riko could only smile. Delia noticed her expression and froze.

"Oh," she murmured, "I'm sorry."

Riko shook her head. "No. I asked, didn't I?"

Delia paused for nearly a minute. Then, she placed a hand on Riko's shoulder.

"The professor is a brilliant man. If anyone can figure out how to bring your children back, it's him."

Riko nodded, but she didn't say anything in response. It took awhile for Delia to realize no words would come from the other woman, and when she saw that, she slowly removed her hand and sighed. She stood back, watching Riko and the door carefully and listening to the screams in the locked room. After a few minutes, the lock clicked, and the door swung open. Briskly, Brigette wheeled Professor Oak out of the room. Oak slouched in his chair, a sight Delia wasn't used to seeing from the normally energetic scientist. The shadows and the lines in his face stood out to her; she could tell he hadn't slept well since he'd returned from Cinnabar.

Behind him, the reason was being pressed into the mattress of the bed in the middle of the room. Glancing around the two, she could see Tracey struggle against the hands of Brigette's hariyama. His skin was sloughing off his arms, revealing a glistening, brown exoskeleton where red flesh should have been. Greenish-brown fur circled his neck, and as he raised his head, Riko could see a flash of a bone-white horn jutting from his skull in a sea of thinning, dark hair. The watcher screamed and twisted, trying to bite one of the hariyama's beefy arms.

Then, Lanette moved into view with her back turned to the door. She leaned over the bed as her hands found a vulnerable spot of skin on Tracey's hip. Carefully, she did something that neither Riko nor Delia could see, but it caused Tracey to scream and thrash. She stepped back, waiting quietly until his movements slowed and became increasingly sluggish. When that happened, she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Beside the dragonite sat a waste bin with a cover. Stepping briskly over to it, she pushed the pedal at its base down to force the lid up, and she dropped the used syringe into its depths.

Delia turned away at that point and breathed deeply. Meanwhile, Riko shuddered, but she didn't take her eyes off the door. They both could still hear the moans coming from behind it, although they were far quieter than they had been a moment ago. Riko's body felt cold, but she did her best not to show any emotion. Instead, she clenched her teeth and tried not to think of her own children at that second. Delia, meanwhile, could only lay a hand on Riko's shoulder. She had intended at first for it to be a reassuring grasp, but before she realized what she was doing, she leaned against the other woman for support.

As if he hadn't noticed either of them, Oak slumped in his chair. A large hand rose and waved.

"Brigette, you and Lanette can continue working. I'm sorry. I think I need to lie down for awhile," he said.

She nodded and continued pushing him down the hallway. Oak had been nothing but tired since he and Tracey escaped from Polaris Institute, but neither Brigette nor anyone else in the household knew what to do to help him except let him rest.

In his chair, Oak closed his eyes, and as Brigette led him away, he slipped into sleep.

---

It was difficult for Oak not to think about Bill now. Not that he didn't have his student in mind in one way or another thanks to the ixodida project. Now, however, he thought of him constantly, if only because it was history repeating itself. Each time Tracey's skin slid off his body, he saw Bill ripping his skin on his restraints to let the flesh ribbons fall away and reveal the same kind of exoskeleton. Every time Lanette, Brigette, and Hariyama worked together to hold Tracey down and inject a tranquilizer into the watcher, Oak remembered the teams of chansey holding Bill down as Nurse Joy struggled to get an IV of morphine into his arm. Each scream, each crunch of bones, each splatter of vomit that came from Tracey echoed eerily the same tortures Oak had seen only months ago.

_Just be patient, Bill. We'll figure it out._

Oak remembered saying those exact words to him, and months later, what did he have to show for it? Another name to add to the list of victims.

At times, Oak wondered what Tracey would be like after his transformation. Bill had been reasonable – was _still_ reasonable, according to Lanette. That bit of information was comforting, although Lanette had also told him about Adam, the creature lurking in Bill's mind.

Involuntarily, any thought about Adam inevitably led to one specific memory in Oak's head. It replayed over and over again whenever Tracey screamed, more so than any other memory, and with it came a blinding agony where Oak's leg once had been.

Right then, after he closed his eyes while Brigette wheeled him away, Oak saw it one more time. Broken glass rained down on him, and he heard a bang. He twisted, and there, on the linoleum floor of a Polaris observation room, was Bill, eyes closed and blood trickling from the side of his head. Oak could swear he screamed something, but he couldn't remember. There was no time to remember. Already, the rock ixodida came barreling through the white wall next to him, and Oak was thrown off his feet. The stone monster dashed into the room like a runaway train, slamming into both the computer and the bed to send them flying into the opposite wall.

It turned. Oak could see its nostrils flare as it fixed its dark eyes on him. Its mouth opened, revealing long, needle-sharp teeth and a snake-like tongue as it growled, the sound rumbling and grinding into the air. Oak pushed himself backwards, towards the door. The monster took a step forward, crouching down to prepare to leap at him.

Then, Oak saw a flash of silver slam into its back with a shriek. What he thought at first glance was Bill buried a set of glowing claws in the shoulders of the rock beast. His tail wrapped around the stone waist as a hand rose and grasped one of the rock-type's horns. In response, the behemoth roared and twisted before grabbing its opponent and slamming him into the floor.

By then, Oak struggled to his feet, using the doorframe as support. He watched the steel-type on the floor twist and rise to all fours. Plates along the creature's neck rose and fell as a low growl rumbled from his throat. From the way he moved, crouched on the floor, arms and legs flexing as he scuttled like a crab across the floor, Oak realized what he was looking at was far from the gentle, soft-spoken scholar he knew.

The rock-type hunched over, its body gaining a brilliant, blue aura as it dashed towards Bill. It swept itself low, aiming to slam its head into the steel-type, but at the last second, Bill dodged to the side. One of his hands lashed upwards and planted itself on the rock-type's shoulder. With a turn, he shoved, and the twist knocked the rock off its course. Taking advantage of his opponent's sudden lack of balance, the steel-type slid under it and pushed up. It roared, but it followed his movement until it stumbled to its feet.

Without pause, Bill rose and flexed his tail. Oak watched as it turned white with energy just seconds before its master spun. A clang reverberated through the air as the rock-type stumbled backwards with a roar. However, it didn't have much of a chance to recover. Already, Bill faced his opponent with his palms outward. The jewels embedded in them began to glow white with a light that slowly bulged. His lips curled to reveal his glistening fangs as he raised his hands in front of his chest.

There was a high-pitched hum that seemed to drown out all other noise in the room. A beam of light burst from Bill's hands and sailed through the air to hit his target squarely in the chest. Then, the rock sailed through the low wall and the open window, across the laboratory, and into the far wall. Its limbs hung from its flying body as if it was nothing but a rag doll in a hurricane. Oak couldn't even hear the impact of it slamming into plaster or the sound of its rocky body falling to the floor.

Before the professor could react, Bill was in motion again, launching himself on all fours towards the downed rock-type. It opened its eyes and rolled its head on its neck to stare up at the steel-type. Bill padded to a stop, his tail wagging in delight as he pressed a hand to the side of the stone's head to keep it still. The other hand brushed the pulsing, red jewel at the back of its neck.

By then, Oak had managed to push himself a step outward, into the laboratory. Resting against the doorframe, he stared in disbelief as Bill's claws dug into the rock around the stone's parasite.

"Bill?" he whispered. "What are you doing?"

Oak heard a rip, and it took him a second to register what he was seeing. In Bill's hand was a red bulb with tendrils ripping themselves from the stone's body. Blood rained down on the cobblestone creature as it shrieked in pain, a scream that was quickly silenced as the claws on Bill's free hand glowed and came down on its neck. The stone's head rolled off the shoulders neatly, and Bill turned his attention back to the flailing parasite.

When it disappeared into the steel-type's mouth, Oak covered his own as he tasted something sour in the back of his throat. He moved his hand slightly to take a deep breath, but when he looked up, he saw the steel-type staring at him. Blood stained his claws and lips, and a pointed tongue flicked across both as he sat like a cat between Oak and the corpse.

"Bill," he said as firmly as he could. "I don't know if you can hear me, but you've got to snap out of this. Come on. You've got to remember."

The creature rose to all fours and padded forward. Oak could hear a strange rumble, and it took a few moments for him to realize Bill was purring. With a shudder, he lifted his eyes, glancing at the door to the hall beyond the steel-type. Slowly, he inhaled and moved away from the doorway and along the wall. Bill kept his eyes on his former superior, and he moved, twisting to keep himself facing the professor.

"Don't you remember me?" Oak asked. "It's me. Professor Oak. I'm your friend."

The creature stopped. Oak stared at his face, trying to determine whether or not he was getting through to Bill's human side. Cautiously, he took a step forward. A warm sense of hope began to fill his chest.

"Bill?"

His tail took on a white glow again. Before Oak's mind could register what was about to happen, Bill twisted around, whipping his tail towards Oak's legs. Blinding, hot pain ripped through Oak, starting from the knee and spreading quickly through every nerve in his body. He was certain he screamed, but for some reason, he could hear nothing has he toppled over, onto the floor. Blood soaked his pants as he struggled to raise his head.

Bill crept closer, his breath audible as he inhaled the scent of the blood. He licked the remaining blood off his lips as he crouched over Professor Oak. The man turned pale, and he found himself trembling. His blood was everywhere by then, and with that knowledge, he could already feel the faintness of shock setting in. Still, he struggled to remain stable and still, even as the pokémon opened his mouth and leaned over him. Only when Oak could feel Bill's breath and the sharpness of a fang could he finally speak.

"Don't."

Suddenly, the beast stopped. He jolted backwards, scuttling with scrapes across the blood-stained floor. His eyes were wide, and Oak could see his chest heaving with each breath. Then, finally, the steel-type lay down and stared at Oak for awhile like an animal that had just been kicked. Only then, when the creature was far enough away from him, did Oak let himself close his eyes and rest.

When he opened them again, he found himself in his room, laying on his back on the bed. He sat up and glanced out the window, at the dark blue of the evening. His mouth felt cold, and a sour aftertaste lingered at the back of his throat. A groan rumbled from his throat as he reached down to rub the stump of his leg. Pains ran along his nerves, insisting there was something there when all that was left beyond his knee was a stub of flesh wrapped in cloth.

Inhaling, he glanced at the clock on the nightstand next to his bed and realized that only two hours had passed since he'd asked to be brought to his room. Once again, the sandman had only dusted him, and as far as he knew, there wasn't going to be much hope of sleeping anytime soon. He shuddered when he remembered the eyes of the creature staring deep into him, and he wondered briefly if he would be seeing something like them again soon.

With a frown, he reached for the phone that sat next to the clock and picked up the receiver. He quickly tapped a few buttons and waited. A click came from the other end, and he reached upwards to rub his forehead as he spoke.

"Brigette? Could you pick me up? I've got to get back to work."

---

"Look, Rose. Listen carefully. I'm going to tell you exactly what you should do, and you have to be a good girl and do it, okay?"

That was the beginning of the last thing Veronica said to her when they were alone together in a holding cell over a day ago. Since then, Rose had been taken away from Veronica and looked over. The people in suits asked her questions, many of which she couldn't force herself to answer. They watched her cringe and listened when she actually spoke, and after hours of looking her over, they finally decided to let her go. She was given her five pokémon and comforting words before she was escorted into what was the equivalent of freedom there: a place with off-duty soldiers by the shore. That was going to be her home until the NDF approved her transport back to Johto.

Of course, going back to Johto would have been the plan, had she not been brought to Joshua first.

Zachary Joshua reminded Rose of her brother – the one she thought of as her real one, who lived far away in a small cottage just like Professor Birch's laboratory and who wasn't anywhere near Hoenn. Just like her brother, Joshua was kind to her but firm. He never joked, but he never stopped smiling, either. She could tell he was smart, too. After all, he was the one the soldiers called the head of Birch Institute.

The truth was that Joshua wasn't actually a scientist in his own right up until the beginning of the quarantine. He was an assistant – Birch's only one – and a student. However, when strange creatures began appearing around Fortree, the regional professor was the first to volunteer to investigate. So, Birch left with two escorts to the foot of Mt. Pyre, but when a week passed with no reports from the party, the NDF went to search for them. It was a short time after that when Joshua learned about the adult ixodida. The escorts had become two of them, and as for Birch, the NDF could only retrieve a headless body. That was what brought about the quarantine.

Birch's laboratory quickly became a center for ixodida research, one of the several across the nation affiliated with the Committee. While Joshua was considerably younger than Professors Oak and Nettle, he still showed the same signs of weariness they experienced. Lines and dark patches fringed his blue eyes, white streaks appeared among his green hair, and a hurried, quiet tone invaded his voice when he spoke to the scientists working with him. Rose heard that voice a few times, but right then, as he guided her to the laboratory and explained to her things she largely ignored, he spoke softly and gently.

It was probably because, when he asked her more than fifteen minutes ago how she came across the ixodida, she told him it was her brother.

Right then, they were approaching the door of what used to be the main laboratory, situated at the end of a long hall. Just a year ago, Professor Birch used it as a place where he would give away starters or take in new pokémon to study closely. Back then, it was a crowded room with a table dominating most of the space and machines lining only two of the walls. Now, machines lined all of the walls, and the table was replaced by a single pedestal guarded by four NDF soldiers. As soon as the door opened, the four soldiers stood at attention with their guns at the ready. However, when Joshua stepped inside, they relaxed. Joshua didn't seem to pay them much attention.

"All right, Rose," he said. "I'm going to go ahead and release your brother. Don't worry. The soldiers and I will protect you if anything happens. Now, what I want you to do is just talk to him and see if he'll be willing to work with us. Okay?"

Rose nodded. "Can I ask a question?"

Joshua nodded. "What is it?"

"Can I take out my shroomish?"

Raising his eyebrows, Joshua glanced towards the soldiers. Not a single one of them moved. Yet, that was exactly the response Joshua wanted as he turned back to Rose with a smile. His fingers pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, I don't see why not," he said. "Go ahead."

Rose nodded once and unclipped one of the balls from her belt. Her finger hit the button on its face, and with a flick of her wrist, she tossed it upwards and let it open. The light pooled downwards, into her open arms as the ball fell into one of her hands, and soon, she was holding both it and her squirming, yellow mushroom.

"Ready?" Joshua asked.

She nodded as she clipped the ball back onto her belt. He turned away from her, and that was the moment she needed.

Although Veronica had been with law enforcement, she knew enough about how investigations worked, regardless of who did them – enough to know exactly how the one the NDF conducted on the both of them would play out. First, she knew that despite the girl's associations with an ixodida and a woman who was resisting the NDF's interrogations, Rose was harmless. It was a fact in that Rose could barely speak without cringing, and when she did, she didn't have much to say because she didn't know much of anything at all beyond cartoons and coordinating. Hence, the NDF's guard would be down, and sure enough, they were going to let her go.

Second, Veronica knew that Bill was unpredictable, and she had a feeling that the NDF could tell that much just by the way he acted when they first saw him. She also knew that, most likely, anything they could do to get information, they probably would do. It was what she would have done, at least. Hence, if Rose told them the ixodida was her brother, they would try to use that to their advantage. Sure enough, although Veronica didn't know about the fact that Joshua was running on a time limit set by the Committee, the scientist wanted Rose to talk to Bill for exactly this reason.

Third, Veronica knew Rose's shroomish could use Stun Spore.

"I'm sorry."

In Rose's hesitation, Joshua had taken a few steps towards the pedestal. Now, he stood close to the soldiers, but he turned back to her at the sound of her voice.

"What's that, Rose?" he asked.

She looked down and covered her mouth. Her other arm let Shroomish slip from her grip, and she stepped back to watch the mushroom make several hops forward. Then, Shroomish tipped herself towards the group. Seconds later, a billowing cloud of gold dust sprayed from her crown.

Joshua inhaled a gasp, intending on holding his breath, but by then, it was too late. The golden spores engulfed both him and the group of soldiers, all of whom shifted into the cloud in an attempt to dash to the sides. Soon, all of their muscles seized all at once, and rushes of numbness filled their bodies as the spores' toxins worked their way through the exposed skins of their faces and hands. All five adults hit the linoleum floor in spasms.

In the meantime, Rose quickly darted forward and pulled one of her pink sleeves over a hand and wiped down the ball before snatching it and clipping it to her belt. She gave one last glance towards Joshua, who struggled to move his arm towards her but only succeeded in worming his entire body towards her a few inches. In response, she backed away.

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

Then, she darted out the door.


	18. Seventeen: The Devil

Seventeen  
(Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear.)

In Viridian City, Team Rocket Headquarters loomed in the skyline, but no one ever really thought much about it. To outsiders, it was Di Roketto Tower, the headquarters of the Giovanni Foundation, an organization that was dedicated to the support of underprivileged children. Giovanni di Roketto himself, the gym leader of Viridian City, was known across the area only as a compassionate man, a man who, while often dodging the spotlight, wanted nothing more than to see the smiles on children's faces. That was, after all, why he ran multiple resorts and theme parks across Kanto and why he was so eager to accept new people as members of his gym. It was all for the children, for the people who loved pokémon.

Of course, in his office at the top of the skyscraper, behind tinted glass, things were different. Professor Yvonne Nettle was learning this just now as the man pounded a large fist against the hard wood of his desk. The sound startled the persian by his side, causing the cat to yowl and dart to a corner of the room.

"Allow me to outline your situation to see if I fully understand," he said coolly. "The plan, after a full analysis of the Committee's files on Codename Pandora, was to select a physically and mentally weak subject to infect and control. You chose Professor Mulberry, an otherwise useless member of Polaris Institute with a pliable mind we could potentially influence. Instead, your miscalculations caused Professor McKenzie – whose knowledge of the Storage and Retrieval System could have been a vital asset to my other plans – to be infected instead, rendering him completely useless to anyone."

Nettled swallowed and smiled nervously. "With all due respect, sir, the events that led to McKenzie's infection were triggered by Agent—"

"Are you interrupting me?" he sneered with narrow eyes.

Stiffening, she shook her head. "No, sir."

"Good," he drawled. "Then, after that mistake, you attempt to infect a lowly janitor to lead to an opportunity to take over Polaris Institute. This was your only success, although it resulted in the deaths of almost fifty percent of your staff and the destruction of a large portion of the laboratory itself."

She lowered her head.

"If that wasn't enough, your next selection would have been Professor Fig. Instead, you allow a soldier of the National Defense Forces to be infected in his place. As a result, when you successfully allowed Professor Oak's assistant to fuse with a parasite, Prometheus destroys the remainder of the complex, and you lose _both_ subjects. Then, you come to me, expecting praise and a transfer to a new laboratory?"

"Sir." Nettle raised her head. "I know it sounds like a negative report—"

"A negative report? It's a complete disaster! I have neither time nor the money to fix the damage you have done to my investments. I should dismiss you entirely for your astounding incompetence."

"Sir!"

He drummed his fingers on the surface of his desk. "However, I still have a use for you if you wish to rise to your reputation and overcome your string of utter failures."

At once, a smile appeared on her lips. "Sir, I can assure you, I will not disappoint you this time."

"Yes," he replied. "You will be transferred to Hoenn. You and Agent 009 will personally track McKenzie."

She tried to hide a wince. "To train him, sir?"

This time, he smiled. "Yes and no. You will still find a way to control him, but your main goal is exactly what you've included in your report. This empress Prometheus mentioned. It's likely that McKenzie obeys her now as well. Use that tracking device you put on him and follow him to her. When you find her, capture her. She would make the perfect addition to Team Rocket's arsenal."

Nettle raised her eyebrows. "Sir, isn't this the work of a field agent, not a scientist?"

"Yes," Giovanni replied as he waved a hand in the air. "Unless you wish to crawl back to that arctic laboratory where I found you, working in Team Rocket means you work with my ranks and my rules. Therefore, because of your failures, I've deemed it necessary to demote you. Your superior will be 009. Report to her tomorrow morning for your departure. She'll outfit you with an appropriate uniform."

At once, Nettle stepped forward, and her mouth hung open in shock.

"Is there a problem, Professor?" Giovanni asked.

"Sir, with all due _respect_," she said, "this is an insult!"

Giovanni scoffed and motioned for his persian to step forward. The cat padded towards him, purring with each step. Then, when she was close, she nuzzled his leg, prompting him to reach down and stroke the fur between her ears.

"Would you like to know what the alternative is?" he asked.

As if to punctuate this question, Persian opened her eyes and meowed, exposing her long, sharp fangs for Nettle to see. The woman took a breath and stumbled backwards.

"No, sir," she said.

"Good," Giovanni replied. "Then get out of my sight."

She didn't need to be told twice. Instead, she turned and dashed for the door.

---

The wind whistled, carrying with it a wave of gold dust. Seconds later, the remaining soldiers that had been trailing a little girl in the darkness of Littleroot Forest collapsed in a fit of seized muscles and convulsions. A red beam of light engulfed the shroomish on the path, drawing her back into her ball. Rose leaned back, examining the ball in her right hand before clipping it back to her belt and turning to run. The ball in her left hand was still clutched tightly to her chest as she wound her way through the shadows of trees and the tangles of underbrush. Thorns snagged at her tights and sleeves and stung her cheeks, but she tried not to care. All she focused on for several minutes was putting as much distance between herself and Littleroot as possible.

Unfortunately, she was never in impressive shape, and as the minutes ticked past, her throat and lungs began to burn with each breath she took. After awhile, her legs felt numb and wobbly. Yet, despite both complaints, she tried her best to push forward.

Then, in the darkness, something snagged on her foot, and she pitched forward and hit the dirt hard. The ball rolled away from her for several feet before coming to rest at the base of a tree.

Sniffling, Rose pulled herself to her knees. She knew she wouldn't be able to run anymore; her legs felt like someone had taken all the bones from them. Something stung one of her knees. She pulled it up and ran her fingers across it to find a hole in her tights and, beneath it, something sticky. Somewhere in the distance, a poochyena howled, followed by several others. Rose lifted her head to stare at the dark, cloudy sky above her. Her body shivered, although it wasn't cold. Wrapping her arms around her, she bowed her head and cried.

Suddenly, she heard a rattle. Looking towards it, she saw the round shape of the ball move, shaking back and forth against the tree. Freezing, she backed away, dragging herself across the forest floor until her back hit another tree's trunk. The ball, meanwhile, continued to rattle for several minutes until, finally, it fell still again. Rose drew her knees to her chest and held her breath, waiting for it to move once more, but when it didn't, she slowly crept across the clearing and stared at it. Wiping her eyes on the back of her sleeve, she swallowed and reached with her free hand to touch it with her fingertips. Its surface felt cold, and it didn't respond to her touch. The creature inside wanted to get out, but much to Rose's relief as soon as she realized it, he was as good as stuck until she did something about it.

Taking the ball in her hands, she clasped it tightly, as if that would keep it shut. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, and in her silence, she couldn't help but remember what Veronica had told her.

_"Look, Bill can't stay here. They're going to do something bad to him, and we can't just sit here and let that happen. That's where you come in. They'd expect me to do something, but I don't think they'll expect you. It'll just be an easy in and out. Take him someplace safe and release him as soon as you can. He can do the same for you after that."_

"Safe," Rose murmured to herself. "Somewhere safe…"

She pressed the button and let the ball open in her hands. White light burst from its center and poured to a place in front of her. It quickly reshaped itself and faded, and the object kneeling where it had been glanced around the clearing in confusion. Snapping the ball shut, Rose lowered her head and sniffled. At once, Bill jolted and looked to the side just in time to see Rose break down into tears again.

"I… I wanna go home!" she cried.

Bill raised his eyebrows and reached for her but stopped before he touched her. Instead, he simply watched her, unable to find something comforting to say.

---

It took a couple of shakes to get the remaining dust off his cloak, but eventually, it served as a decent blanket for Rose. After that point, Rose followed him to gather wood and find a good suitable to rest, and when they finally reached an appropriate clearing, Rose curled up against a tree and fell asleep in a black velvet bed while Bill piled dry scraps of brush and tried to light a fire.

Tried, unfortunately, was the key word there.

For the past ten minutes, he rubbed sticks together, trying to coax them into sparking an ember in his pile of kindle, but his wood seemed content to be a pile of cold, dry twigs. Every so often, he'd pause and stare at the kindle at the base of his sticks, wondering whether or not he made any progress at all. Then, realizing he hadn't, he bent over and tried again.

"How did I do this when I was a trainer?" he mumbled to himself.

He sat up, sighing. Already, he wished Veronica was with them. She was the one who did this every night, and she got it done within two minutes, in part because she actually had a lighter she'd swiped from a cabin. Right then, however, Bill didn't have the faintest idea where she was. Rose was exhausted, and in any case, she refused to respond to what few questions he asked her. He had a feeling that was going to happen frequently for awhile.

Glancing towards her, Bill frowned. The last thing she said was that she wanted to go home. He couldn't blame her, but then again, he couldn't think of a way to take her back to Johto except to send her into an NDF zone and hope for the best. Unfortunately, after the entire ordeal in Littleroot, he knew going anywhere near the NDF as he was would put her in danger more than it would help her.

So, the best thing to do, he realized, was to protect her for now and find for her a place to stay until the quarantine was lifted – if it was ever lifted, that is.

_You are not thinking of forgetting your promise to your kind, are you?_

Bill thrust the stick back into the pile and started one more attempt to spark a fire.

"I never said I was," he said with a shrug.

_The girl is an unfortunate complication, yes, but perhaps she will be of use to us in the fight._

At once, Bill stopped and narrowed his eyes. "Adam, she _won't_ be coming with us. Furthermore, she is _not_ an 'unfortunate complication.' She's my sister, and if you insist on using my body, you will respect h—ngh!"

He doubled over and closed his eyes, nearly dropping the stick in the process. A second later, however, his hand gripped it and tossed it on the firewood. One of his palms hovered over the pile as the jewel set in it began to glow a bright white. A small burst of energy blasted from it and struck the wood, and with a crack, fire burst from the spot the beam struck as Adam snapped its hand away from the flames. Purring, the beast moved their body a safe distance from the fire and curled up on the cool forest floor.

"You fail yet again to realize you are in no position to make demands of me," Adam said. "I am far stronger and more experienced with this form than you are. You can barely handle executing simple maneuvers, much less maintain control over your own body."

Adam jolted to its knees and gasped. Shutting its eyes, it swayed for a brief second before Bill shook his head and brought a hand up to hold it.

"I'm learning," he replied.

_Impressive. That must be the first time you consciously seized control from me._

Bill sat back with a smirk on his face. A second later, however, his entire body froze once more. The smirk faded into a blank expression.

"But the truth is," Adam continued, "I am still stronger than you will ever be."

With that, Adam stood and walked around the fire carefully until it loomed over Rose. It knelt, lifting one hand to caress her neck lightly. She squirmed and groaned but didn't stir.

"While killing you would naturally be unwise, I can make life very, very miserable for you, Bill. Do not pretend you are my master when we are barely equals."

With that, Bill felt a jolt, and he tilted forward. His claws scratched Rose's skin, and the girl awoke with a sharp gasp. Immediately, Bill withdrew, clenching his teeth as he watched his sister slap a hand to her neck to feel the rough patch of scratched skin. With a whimper, she backed against the tree and stared at the creature in front of her.

"Rosie," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

She made a high-pitched sound as tears trickled from her eyes again. Jumping, Bill leaned forward.

"No! No, don't cry!" he said in as comforting a voice as he could muster. "It's just a scratch. You'll be fine!"

Rose didn't respond. Instead, she pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in them. Frowning, Bill scrambled across the dirt patch between them to sit next to her.

"Hey," he said softly. "Rosie, look at me."

She shook her head.

"Rosie, please."

Slowly, she turned her head to look. Through her tears, he looked like a blurred, shining shape, but when she wiped her eyes on her sleeve again, the image resolved. He gave her a concerned glance, to which she responded by inching away from him.

"I know you're scared of me," he said, "and I can understand completely. Please remember something for me, though. I would never, _ever_ hurt you intentionally. I'm here to watch over you, Rosie. You're my sister, and although I know I haven't been around you that often, I promise you that regardless of what happens, you can trust me."

Rose stopped, staring at the creature next to her. He gave her a reassuring grin as he lifted a hand towards her. As a reflex, she tensed and leaned away from him, but she didn't move away from her spot. Instead, she let him clasp her shoulder. She felt his hand squeeze, but she didn't once feel the sharp claws or the crushing strength she knew he had. With that, she relaxed, settling down as she looked at her companion. He exhaled a sigh and withdrew, and it was at that point that Rose realized he was just as nervous about that moment of contact as she was.

Bill leaned back until he rested against the tree trunk. Drawing up one knee, he draped his arm over it and flexed his fingers.

_See, Adam?_ he thought. _It's taking a lot of effort, but I think I'm finally getting used to this._

Adam didn't respond, and Bill didn't bother searching for the parasite. Instead, he let his attention wander back to Rose, who had taken up the cloak and wrapped it around herself like a blanket again.

"Are you cold?" she murmured.

He shook his head. "I'll be fine. You use that tonight."

She frowned and pulled the cloak around her tighter. Then, cautiously, she moved a little closer to Bill. She didn't lean against him or touch him, just sat close enough that he might feel her warmth. Glancing up, she noticed he was still watching her. A chill went down her spine, and she turned away to look at the fire.

"Johto," she mumbled.

"Hmm?"

Her eyelids lowered. "Can you take me home?"

He paused briefly before replying, "I'll do my best, Rosie."

With that, their conversation ended abruptly. Rose closed her eyes and tried to sleep there. Eventually, she began drifting when she felt an arm curl around her shoulders and gently nudge her into leaning against Bill. The cold metal of his side wasn't that much more comfortable than no support at all, but by then, she was too tired to really care. She squirmed as she felt something wrap around her waist, but that was the extent of her protests.

The end of Bill's tail curled around Rose's waist in a reassuring squeeze before drifting across his nearest leg. In the meantime, the rest of his body shifted into a comfortable position as he stared into the fire. He wasn't tired, having spent so much time in the equivalent of sleep within the poké ball. It was best, he figured, to be wide awake and alert at that point – at least to plan for the next day.

Before he could really lose himself in his thoughts, however, the fire flared, growing into a fireball with a burst of light before dying down again to the size it had been seconds ago. He blinked, staring at the campfire with an intense gaze.

_Was that my imagination?_ he thought.

He shifted his tail, letting it wrap around Rose's waist again as he watched the fire. His ears strained to listen to the night, and it was at that point that he realized one important thing. The forest had gone silent. There were no more poochyena barks, no more scraping of wurmple feet, not even the rustling of zigzagoon in the bushes. Bill could hear nothing except the crackling of the fire in front of him.

Then, the fire flared again. Bill narrowed his eyes. His free hand lowered to his side, and he spread his claws in preparation for a strike. In response, the fire curled, with embers flying from the tips of its fingers. The longer Bill stared at it, the more he realized there was one other sound in the forest: a roar that slowly grew in volume until it filled his ears. A red glow appeared between the trees right in front of him, and he knew at once what it was.

He gasped and turned to his sister. "Rosie? Rosie, we need to go. Will you let me carry you?"

She groaned and shifted, opening her eyes to stare at her companion. "Nii-san…"

Nodding once, he carefully scooped her into his arms. At first, she struggled, but eventually, she let him pick her up and wind his tail around her torso. She settled down in his arms and tried to go back to sleep, but all she did was lean against him with her eyes partly closed. In the meantime, Bill stood and glanced over his shoulder, towards the fire and the roar.

Turning away, he took the first step to run, but before he could move any further, the tree nearly directly in front of him burst into flames. He jumped, backing away as Rose squirmed and cried out. By then, she was awake, though she wasn't quite awake enough to fight against his grip. In the meantime, the fire quickly jumped from tree to tree until it formed a ring around them. Bill flinched, cringing at the heat hitting him from all sides as Rose whimpered and wrapped her arms around his neck.

A gust of hot wind blasted him from above. Crying out, he forced himself to look up at its source. There, hovering above him, was a flaming ixodida.

"Well, well," the fire-type drawled. "A brother of the Iron Clan, clutching onto human trash like it was a doll. I suppose you would be the rogue I was sent to find."

Bill swallowed and held Rose tighter. He knew that, up until then, he only battled ixodida he had an advantage against. Now, he glanced at the ring of fire, and all at once, he remembered his fight against Numel, the pain he felt with each fireball that struck his armor and how weak just that attack left him.

Behind him, Prometheus landed. The fire on his body danced and snapped as he stepped closer to his target.

"Rogue," he said, "are you ignoring me? Speak!"

Glancing over his shoulder, Bill extended his wings and unwound his tail from Rose's waist. Before Prometheus could react, his target crouched and sprang into the air, his wings whirring frantically as he lifted himself off the ground.

"Running away, rogue?"

The fire around his fists billowed as he swept his hands in front of him. In the meantime, Bill sailed between two trees and flicked his tail to begin rising away from the ground. However, he couldn't fly more than a short distance beyond the fiery ring before a blast of flames hit him from behind. With a cry, he dropped Rose on the soft earth and slammed into the ground not far away from her. He slid across the dirt for a few feet before coming to a stop in a patch of underbrush. Wincing as a sharp pain radiated from his back, he looked over his shoulder and found that both of his wings were bent. Both were useless, and he knew he wouldn't be able to retract them without hurting himself.

A small cry drew his attention back towards his sister, and to his horror, he found her trying to scramble away from the blazing ixodida. Prometheus loomed over her for a moment before squatting and reaching towards her with a fiery hand. With some effort, Bill forced himself to his knees and gritted his teeth.

"Hey! Stay away from her!" he yelled.

Prometheus looked up, narrowing his eyes as he stared at Bill. The hand still hovered over Rose, and it crept closer with every passing second.

"I am here to gather you," Prometheus said. "You have a choice, rogue. Either you come quietly with me to meet our empress or I set your little pet on fire."

As if to emphasize his point, the fire on Prometheus's hand receded, and he slammed it onto Rose's shoulder to force her against the earth. She screamed and cried as the cloth began to smoke. The fire-type ignored her thrashing as he looked towards Bill with a blank stare.

Slowly, Bill forced himself to his feet. His wings radiated pain, and he could feel blisters under the metal plating on his back. Closing one eye, Bill came to the realization that he was already badly injured after just one attack.

"Well?" Prometheus asked. "Will you come with me?"

Bill's stare lowered to the ground. Slowly, he took a step forward. Prometheus grinned, rose to his own feet, and extended a hand.

"Yes, good choice," he growled. "Perhaps you can be one of our allies after all."

Bill closed his eyes and moved closer. He could already feel the intense heat of the other ixodida, and in his chest, Adam stirred, its presence squirming uncomfortably under Bill's flesh. The host took a shaking breath and stood in front of Prometheus.

"I can't fly. My wings are injured," he murmured.

Prometheus scoffed. "The empress must have been joking when she said you were a threat. You hardly know your body enough to understand its limitations. Did you really think you could have flown that far with strong wings, Iron Rogue? How long do you really think you could hold all your weight in midair on those little things, hmm?"

Bill looked at his captor in surprise. He could say nothing; the being's words struck him silent. After studying his face carefully, Prometheus released Rose and stood.

"If I knew how to express amusement on this face, I assure you I would. The empress will gain nothing from having you under her control. How ironic that you should be so weak." He shook his head. "The Wind Guardian and her subjects are waiting for us deeper in the forest. We will rendezvous with her, and she will carry you."

"And my sister?"

Prometheus glanced at Rose, who cowered on the ground, pulling herself away from the fire-type.

"We leave her," he said. "Humans are ha—"

Before he could finish, a yellow beam of energy ripped through the air and slammed into Prometheus's side. The fire-type was torn off his feet and flung towards the inferno before he could so much as defend himself.

As soon as the beam fizzled into nothingness, Bill gasped and turned towards its root to find that it had been sent by a towering, horned beast with metal plating over his dark gray body. Next to the aggron stood a man with pale blue hair and hands in the pockets of his dark gray pants. A pair of blue eyes narrowed at Bill before turning towards the figure on his other side.

The third member of the group was another ixodida, the smallest Bill had seen. Most of the creature's skin was pinkish-purple with curling, blue tattoos winding across his limbs and chest – or, at least, from what Bill could tell, considering much of the ixodida's body was covered in the rags of a blue garment. The newcomer's pink arms were crossed over his chest as his tail, tipped with an arrowhead, wound around his ankles and brushed the parasite on his left shin. His pink hair was pulled back in a tight bun, with the wind playing with the ends of the scarf binding it back. Finally, as he flicked his iridescent dragonfly wings, he fixed his blue eyes directly on Bill. The steel-type couldn't help but shiver as he waited for something to happen.

"Tate?" the human asked.

The ixodida nodded. "Yeah. It's him, and it looks like we got to him just in time."

Bill shook his head in an attempt to dispel his feeling of surprise. In doing so, he caught a glimpse of Rose out of the corner of his eye, and with a gasp, he turned and stooped to check on her. Rose shook as he wrapped his arms around her, but other than a few scrapes, a bruise, and a red spot under a black-edged hole on her shirt, she was completely fine. Sighing with relief, Bill looked up.

"Thank you," he said. "He would have—"

"Killed your sister and dragged you away to be ripped apart by the empress," Tate said. "I know. I can see the future."

Bill stared at him for awhile before shaking his head. "Er… You're…"

Tate nodded. "A psychic-type rogue. I'm Tate, and this is Steven. We're here to save you."

"I…" Bill tilted his head. "What?"

Before either of the newcomers could respond, the fire straight ahead of them flared upwards to engulf another line of trees. From the heart of the inferno, Prometheus walked forward, his entire body engulfed in towering flames.

"Speak of the devil," Steven muttered.

"Looks like it," Tate replied. "Let's go."

With that, the human, the aggron, and the ixodida started forward, leaving Bill and Rose to sit in stunned silence.


	19. Eighteen: I'm Sorry

Eighteen  
(I'm sorry I'm not you.)

Fire burst skyward in a red-hot geyser. A pink ixodida pinwheeled through the air, his limbs flailing as his dragonfly wings frantically beat to keep himself aloft. The fire cleared, and right where the peak of the eruption had been a few seconds ago, the Fire Guardian floated.

"You and your friend are nothing but pests," he drawled.

He drew his hands in front of him as his skin burst into flames. Fire curled around his arms and gathered in front of his palms. Looking over his shoulder, Tate yelped and dove just as a jet of heat blasted towards him.

"Steven, I could use some help up here!" he called out.

On the ground, Tate's gray-haired companion stood beside his aggron. His pale blue eyes rose to gaze at the Fire Guardian, and then, he nodded.

"Hold on!" he replied.

His hand drew a poké ball from his pocket and tossed it upward. As soon as it cracked open, it spewed a white light that quickly formed a blue, four-legged creature with glowing, red eyes. Smashing through one tree branch after another, the metagross rose, just in time to catch Tate on its way up to the battleground above the forest canopy.

"Metagross," Steven yelled, "follow Tate's orders!"

It growled with a sound like nails tossed in a bag of gravel while Tate knelt on its back.

"All right!" he shouted. "Metagross, use Psychic with me!"

As soon as he finished, his eyes and body began to glow with a blue light. Metagross followed suit, its own body taking on a blue aura as the duo rose higher into the sky. Prometheus took one look at the pair and chuckled.

"Is that all?" he asked.

He leaned back and brought his hands together, preparing to create another ball of fire. However, at the same time, Tate smirked, spread his arms, and rose to his feet.

"Fire!" Tate yelled.

He threw his hands in front of him as Metagross spread its limbs. The air between the Fire Guardian and his opponents rippled. Flames blew backwards from Prometheus in a long plume, but the Guardian himself was held in place by the forces swirling around him. He howled as a blue aura surrounded his body, and in the next second, he was thrown to the ground like a meteor.

As soon as Prometheus slammed into the earth, Steven tensed as he signaled to Aggron. The armored beast grinned and lifted a leg to pound the ground. Cracks laced across the dirt as chunks of soil and rock rose upward to slam into the Fire Guardian. The Guardian himself was tossed into the air by the buckling ground, and the pummeling rocks blew him backwards, into a tree.

Metagross descended, and Tate jumped off its back to land on the ground. He stared towards the fire-type.

"Is he down?" he asked.

"He took a Hyper Beam and an Earthquake from me and endured all of your attacks," Steven replied. "If he's not at least unconscious right now, I don't want to see him when he recovers. Let's go."

Tate whirled around to face Steven. "What? Without taking his core?"

Steven nodded and turned away. "We'd better go. Even with our best attacks, that's one of the empress's strongest. I don't think even that would have killed him."

"So, we take his core anyway! We've got a perfect opportunity!" Tate snapped.

"Leave him alone," Steven replied icily. "He's still too powerful for us, and we've got to recover. Come on."

"But—"

"I said let's go!" Steven snapped. "He's not dead. If you try to take that core, the shock will wake him up, and we don't have the strength to take him out for a second time!"

Tate stared at his companion for awhile. Although Steven specialized in steel-types and therefore had a type disadvantage against Prometheus, what surprised Tate about his retreat was the fact that the champion of the Hoenn League himself – one of the strongest trainers on the planet – had said they didn't have enough power to take out an ixodida. Even then, Tate knew that his partner wasn't one to exaggerate. When he said he lacked power, he meant it.

Noting the lack of response, Steven turned towards Bill and Rose.

"Hey," he called. "Are the two of you all right?"

Jumping where he sat, Bill realized Steven was talking to him. He tilted his head up to look at Steven as he reached for Rose.

"I think so," he replied.

"Good," Steven said. "Then let's go. I know where we can stay for awhile."

---

The place Steven was thinking of was a small, concrete shelter in the middle of the woods. Inside, it was roughly the size of a small bedroom, with machines taking up two of the four walls and a desk supporting a computer taking up the third. Against the fourth was a simple cot on which Rose was seated. Bill's cloak was in a pile of black velvet next to her, and on her other side, Steven sat with his pack within reach.

Rose whimpered. Her shirt had been pulled over her head and was currently held close to her chest with her arms still in the sleeves. Steven carefully rubbed cream on the red spot on her shoulder as she replied with a squirm. It felt to her like a massive sunburn.

In the meantime, Tate leaned against a machine, watching them for awhile. He couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the girl. It didn't take psychic powers to know that she was younger than him and, even more importantly, that she wasn't fit for surviving in Hoenn. To him, she was just a kid.

Eventually, he had to turn his eyes away. They traveled from Steven, who was bandaging the girl's shoulder, to the other ixodida. The steel-type leaned against the desk, reading an abandoned notebook that had been on the desk. Tate didn't know what to make of him. He hadn't seen much of the steel's future, but what he did see left him with the impression that this one had to be kept safe.

"This is one of Professor Birch's old field labs," Tate finally said in an attempt to strike up a conversation with the stranger. "From what I've heard, he'd spend a day outside gathering data, and instead of hiking all the way back to Littleroot, he'd just do his work here."

"I gathered as much."

Tate stumbled in surprise. "You know?"

Bill nodded. "This is his research journal. Besides, he was a colleague of mine, and his habits are well-known in our field."

Right then, Tate decided he didn't care for the steel-type's attitude. Completely oblivious to the glare he was suddenly getting, Bill closed the notebook and set it aside.

"I'm sorry. I never introduced us. My name is Bill, and that's my sister, Rose."

Immediately, Tate's annoyance dissolved. "Sister?"

"Er… yes," Bill replied. "It's a bit complicated, but I'm sure you understand. I've never met a fellow rogue before now. You have family too, d—"

He cut himself off. Suddenly, the look on the boy's face twisted, and Bill found himself staring at a mask of pure anger. Tate's eyes narrowed, and the corners of his mouth stretched and pulled downward into a scowl. Swallowing, Bill pushed himself against the desk, as far back as his wings could allow him to bend; he found that his knees suddenly lacked the strength to support the rest of his body.

Steven turned his back to Rose while she put her shirt back on. Crossing his arms, the Hoenn champion glanced towards Tate.

"Calm down, Tate," he said. "Now isn't the time. We need as many allies as we can get."

Tate closed his eyes, but it took awhile for him to relax. Just as soon as he did, Bill felt a pressure lift from him, as if something had been pushing him down but wasn't anymore. Sighing with relief, he watched Tate move to sit beside Rose. She froze, bristling as she leaned slightly away from him.

"What did I say?" Bill asked.

"Tate was one of the twin gym leaders of Mossdeep City," Steven explained. "His sister—"

The psychic looked up sharply. "It's none of his business!"

Steven hesitated with a glance towards Tate. Then, he added, "Let's just say Tate was the lucky one."

Bill rose to his full height and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. His arms wrapped around his body as he looked towards the metal door of the shack. Suddenly, the air felt cold to him, and he wanted nothing more than a complete change of topic.

"What do we do now?" he asked. "My partner told me to look for the empress—"

Steven raised an eyebrow. "Your partner?"

"Ah! Well, I don't exactly know how you explain it, Tate, but…" Bill tapped a finger on the jewel on his chest. "My partner. His name is Adam."

"He talks to you?" Steven asked.

Bill raised his eyebrows. "Doesn't Tate's?"

Tate turned to Steven. "We shouldn't be so surprised. He's not a psychic-type, so we're not the same."

Mentally, Bill scrambled to make sense of Tate's last statement. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know how you became a rogue," Tate explained, "but my parasite can't communicate with me. I worked a lot with psychic pokémon as a gym leader, so as soon as the ixodida gave me psychic abilities of my own, I knew what to do with them. My parasite's mind is locked up exactly where it should be: in its body."

With wide eyes, Bill stared at Tate. Then, slowly, he pressed his hand against the surface of the jewel in thought. In response, Adam stirred, and a cold feeling passed through Bill's mind.

_Without me, Bill, you are weak. If you must consider that boy's nonsense, then remember that._

Swallowing for a second time, Bill let his hand drop with a shudder. The thought left his mind as quickly as it entered.

"Well?"

Bill glanced at Steven. The trainer sat on the bed with his hands clasped over his knees. His icy eyes stared steadily at the steel-type as he waited for an answer.

"What?" Bill finally asked.

"Aren't you going to let us repair your wings?"

With that, Bill glanced over his shoulder. Both of his wings were bent: the left was pushed inward, towards his knees, while the right was twisted in nearly a J-shape. Neither of them would be easy to retract, and he couldn't feel them repair themselves – probably because they weren't really broken.

"Repair them?" he whispered.

"Yes," Steven said. "Afterwards, we let the two of you rest as long as you need, and then, we part ways."

"Part ways?"

Tate leaned back, stretching his arms behind his head. "You've got the same goal as I do. The empress is the one we have to take down if we want to free Hoenn, but she's not just going to let us get to her. She has ixodida to protect her – strong ones like that fire-type. That's why Steven and I are traveling all over the region to find other rogues. The more of us there are hunting the empress, the more of us there are taking down her defenses." He gazed at Bill. "That's also why we can't travel together. If more than one of us travel in a group, the guardians will take us both down at once, and nobody would get through to the empress. Get it?"

"I suppose…"

To the side, he heard a pop, followed by a low, bubbling cry. Turning, he faced a large, green, flower-like creature with waving, pink tentacles. The cradily lashed towards the ixodida with his tentacles, and soon, Bill found himself tightly bound around the arms and chest, with the tentacles snaking under his wings. Wincing, Bill struggled against the binds, straining to pull his arms away from his sides, but the cradily held him tightly. Opening his eyes, Bill glared at Steven, who stood next to the creature.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!" he snapped.

"We don't want to get you hurt while we work. Tate is going to use his psychic abilities to help you, and if you move, he'll damage your wings more than fix them," Steven explained. "Tate, can you do anything?"

Tate stood and walked towards the three of them. His eyes began to glow blue as he stared at the twisted wings. Both of them took on the same aura and lifted away from Bill's back. Meanwhile, Bill himself tensed and gritted his teeth.

"It'll be tough without melting them down a little first," he said slowly, "but I think I can do it."

The steel-type's eyes widened, and he tried to scramble backwards, only to be stopped by a combination of Tate's psychokinesis holding his wings in place and the cradily's tentacles pulling him forward.

"H-hey!" he said. "Wait! I'd—"

Before he could finish, Tate nodded and raised his hands. The blue glow around Bill's wings shifted only to the left one. Slowly, Tate moved his hands, turning his palms towards him and running them towards his chest. The wing creaked and bent, flattening back into its former shape. With each movement, Bill felt his wing being yanked out of his back as his nerves flared with a sharp pain. He screamed, prompting Steven to dart forward. The champion pulled from his pocket a red handkerchief that he promptly shoved lengthwise into Bill's mouth and tied behind his head.

"There's one," Tate murmured.

The light transferred to the right wing, and with a yank and a loud creak, it began to twist. Meanwhile, Bill shut his eyes tightly and whimpered. Once again, he tried to pull away from both Cradily and Tate, causing Steven to grab him by the shoulders.

"Stay still," he growled. "The more you move, the more likely you'll hurt yourself."

Groaning, Bill flinched as Tate continued to bend his wing. Slowly, it straightened until it was just as smooth as it had been originally. The blue glow around the wing faded, and the psychic sighed and wiped his forehead.

"There," Tate said, his eyes returning to normal. "That wasn't bad at all!"

When the cradily unwrapped Bill, the ixodida responded by rolling his eyes towards the back of his head and dropping sideways onto the floor. Immediately, Rose squeaked and pushed herself off the cot to kneel beside her brother's head. Tate, meanwhile, crossed his arms as Steven placed a hand on Cradily.

"It seems to me," Steven murmured, "that our latest ally…"

"Isn't close to being ready to fight on his own!" Tate exclaimed.

Groaning, Bill retracted his wings. They slid smoothly into his back, and he took relief in the lack of blinding pain. Slowly, he sat up and untied the handkerchief. As soon as his mouth was free, he gasped and coughed. A pink foot came stomped the ground beside him, and with a jump, Bill turned to look at Tate's sneer.

"I don't know how the two of you managed to survive all this way," Tate snapped, "but now that the empress knows you exist, you've got to shape up!"

Shakily, Bill forced himself to his feet. "Shape… shape up?"

Neither the height difference nor the age difference was enough to intimidate Tate. Instead, he tilted his head back to glare at what he knew to be his elder.

"You can't even withstand a psychic attack, and that wasn't even my strongest! How do you expect to win a battle against the empress's Fire Guardian?!"

"I don't," Bill replied. "I know I have a disadvantage against fire-type pokémon. I'd try to avoid fighting one altogether."

"Then, why did we have to save you from one?!" Tate's voice rose in volume as he extended his claws out to both sides. "Do you really think that fire-type will leave you alone?! Even more importantly, the empress is the strongest ixodida there is! How are you going to beat her if you can't beat her servants?!"

Tate's body began to glow again. Gasping, Bill began backing away. In the meantime, Steven narrowed his eyes and took a step towards the gym leader.

"Stand down, Tate," Steven growled. "Choose your battles wisely. Fight the empress's ixodida, not someone who might be able to help us."

"Help us?!" Tate looked over his shoulder. "How can he possibly help us?! He faints at a minor attack, he nearly got himself killed by a single ixodida, and—" He turned his head back towards Bill. "Do you even know any moves?!"

Bill took a deep breath before answering. "I can use Metal Claw and Harden by myself. Scratch too, I suppose."

"That's _it_?!"

"Well, I haven't technically begun training yet," Bill admitted. "I know Adam can use Iron Tail as well, but—"

"Four moves." Tate looked towards Steven. "Four moves, and they're all _basics_. He can't fight!" Shaking his head, he glared at Bill again. "Tell me. How long have you been an ixodida?"

Bill looked towards the ceiling. "Several weeks, I should think."

"Several weeks…"

Tate glanced towards Rose, who cautiously stood and backed away. Then, he closed his eyes and turned his head back to face forward. His teeth clenched, and his lips curled into a sharp frown.

"Is your heart really set on freeing Hoenn?"

Bill tilted his head. "I don't understand."

Tate sneered. "Do you actually want to fight, or are you just doing it because you don't know what else to do with yourself?"

A silence grew in the middle of the shack until, finally, Bill spoke softly. "I never wanted to fight, but I—"

Suddenly, he was flung through the air. His back hit the concrete wall hard enough to leave cracks, and then, he smashed through the cot. Rose screamed and scrambled backwards as Steven reared back.

"Cradily, Giga Drain!"

Without hesitation, Cradily narrowed his yellow eyes and whipped his pink tentacles towards Tate. Each appendage began to glow bright green as it wrapped around Tate's body, causing him to scream and thrash. Slowly, his screaming died down until he hung his head in silence.

"That's enough!" Steven snapped. "We need to work together, not attack each other!"

He opened his mouth to continue, but before he could, an explosion shook the shack. Bill lifted his head to see papers spilling from the desk and the machines wobbling where they stood. Steven whirled around to face the door, and Cradily released Tate, who shakily turned to look at his companion.

"What…?" Tate breathed.

"He found us," Steven muttered. "I should have known we wouldn't have much time." Turning, he faced Rose. "What pokémon do you have?"

Rose cringed and whimpered. Slowly, Bill forced himself to his feet and reached out to squeeze Rose's shoulder.

"It's okay," he said. "Answer him."

Looking up, Rose nodded to her brother before turning towards Steven. "Squirtle, Numel, Shroomish, Whismur, Kirlia, and Nii-san."

"Steven," Tate rasped. "Squirtle."

He shook his head. "Not enough. What moves do your Numel, Kirlia, and Whismur know?"

"Numel knows Ember, Growl, and Tackle," Rose explained. "Whismur knows Pound, Uproar, and Astonish. I don't know what Kirlia knows; I just got her. But she can use Teleport. That's how we got here."

"Not enough at all," Tate commented. "We can't put her in danger."

Steven nodded. "Take Kirlia and use Teleport. Get as far away from here as you can, but head for Lilycove City. Bill, the ixodida and other pokémon around Lilycove City aren't easy targets, but you should be able to train there."

"Hold on!"

Bill struggled to get to his feet. He tried his best to ignore the stabbing pain in the part of his back that hit the wall, but he couldn't help but wince, especially as another explosion shook the shack, sending a jolt through his body.

"You're… you're sending me away?" he whispered. "You don't want me to help you fight?"

Tate scoffed. "You don't even want to fight! Why are you even asking that question?"

"Before you interrupted me," Bill answered, "I would have said I didn't want to fight, but I would if it meant I could protect Rosie!"

Both Rose and Tate stopped, staring at Bill for a long while. In the meantime, Steven drew a poké ball from his pocket.

"Tate, get ready!" he said.

Nodding, Tate drew something from the folds of his clothes and approached Bill with it. The gym leader held it up, allowing Bill to see that it was a pink, heart-shaped badge with a hole in its center.

"Take this and go to Lilycove City," he said. "Right now, she needs you, and if you go out there with us without training first, she's going to be left without anyone to watch over her."

He pressed the badge into one of Bill's hands and turned to nod at Rose. She fumbled through the contents of her pockets for Kirlia's ball before finally pulling it into the open. Turning the ball's button away from her, she let it crack open and release white light that quickly transformed into a bowing kirlia. She looked up, her eyes widening at the other creatures in the room. Gently, Rose placed her hands on the pokémon's shoulder and looked up at her brother.

Without a word, Bill curled his hand around the badge and looked into Tate's eyes. Another explosion drove a chunk of cement from the ceiling. It smashed into the computer and desk, causing both to crash to the floor with a bang. Rose screamed and threw her arms around Kirlia as the emotion pokémon cried and clung to her master. Looking up at the hole, Bill saw that the sky had begun glowing red, not with a sunset but instead because the tree branches above the shack were on fire.

"Go!" Tate shouted. "You've got to get out of here before he breaks down the door!"

"What about you?" Bill asked quietly.

Tate smirked. "Unlike you, we've been training for awhile. Don't worry. We can hold our own."

"Why don't you come with us?"

He shook his head. "We've got to take him down. He's standing between us and the empress. But don't worry. We'll make it out of this. Meanwhile, you get training for her."

As Tate nodded towards Rose, Bill looked at her, watching her cringe and hold onto Kirlia. A howl resonated from outside, sending shivers down Bill's spine. With that, Bill grabbed his cloak and grasped Rose's shoulder as she buried her face in Kirlia's hair.

"Kirlia!" she screamed. "Teleport to Lilycove City!"

The emotion pokémon didn't even need to be told twice. She trilled and closed her eyes, and seconds later, she vanished along with the siblings.

As soon as they disappeared, Tate turned towards the door as Steven pulled another poké ball from his pocket. The door blew inward, and several feet away, a pillar of fire rose towards the sky. Within it, a shadow swayed, lifting an arm towards the shack.

"They'll be fine," Steven said. "Are you ready?"

He narrowed his eyes. His mind drifted back to the young girl with the kirlia. She was young, but she wasn't that much younger than his own sister before the quarantine. Steven glanced over his shoulder.

"Tate?"

The psychic nodded. "Yeah. I'm ready."

With that, he launched himself forward. He had his reasons to fight. People like her were one of them.


	20. Explanations

**Author's Note**

Hello, readers! To those of you who have been keeping up with this version of the fic, I'll have to apologize for the lack of updates. Well, actually, that's not the only thing I'm apologizing for.

The thing is, I'm in the process of revising the fic from the ground up (as you've probably read in the author's note on the prologue), but not too long after I started, I realized what I was basically doing is taking the same plot and rewriting it from almost scratch. The new version has new scenes, shorter content, more information, paved-over plot holes, and actual entire chapters that don't appear in this version. Because I'm lazy and because I realize it'd be a mess if I posted everything here, I've decided to post everything in a new story.

Now, don't mistake it for the same thing. Like I said, the story is essentially being rebuilt from the ground up, and chapters are being rewritten from scratch. What this means is it's basically not the same fic you've been reading. So, while it'll take me awhile to catch up to the events of chapter eighteen, I still encourage you to head over to the new version and check things out because even if it's following the same basic plot, it's definitely something new.

That said, I'm keeping this version up for archival purposes, and I hope to see you around at Anima Ex Machina: Redux.

Thanks for your patience!


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